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The canal that flows between Fort Lauderdale resident Harry Rozelle’s house and his church is so infested with bacteria that his teenage son, Cruz, was hospitalized after swimming in it three years ago.
As he tended to his sick son, who had contracted E. coli and salmonella from the polluted waterway, Rozelle thought about how swimming in the canal - once a normal part of Florida life - has become a major health hazard. He knew something had to be done.
The answer came after a visiting neighbor pointed to a Miami Herald article highlighting something called a “living seawall,” a manmade shoreline structure that mimics natural aquatic habitats, like mangrove roots, giving marine life a home and improving water quality.
Rozelle brought the idea to his church, The Church by the Sea - a nondenominational Christian congregation of a few hundred people that sits on an inlet with 860 feet of coastline. Founded over 70 years ago, the church had withstood decades of erosion and sea level rise and was in dire need of a new seawall. The congregation all agreed the living seawall was a project worth pursuing.
Church leaders say the goal of the project is twofold: repair the church’s current deteriorating seawall while setting a positive example for others looking to make a difference in their coastal community.
“All of us, Christian or non-Christian, have some responsibility to take care of the Earth that God provided for us … you really don’t have to look much further than the first couple pages of the Bible to see that that’s important,” said Pastor Brian Checchio, senior pastor of The Church by the Sea.
Three years and over $1.6 million in fundraising later, the church is following through with the mission.
A living sea wall is not the same as a conventional concrete wall like the ones you see up and down the waterways of South Florida. The living seawall is designed to support marine life, resulting in a structure that protects the shoreline while serving an important environmental function.
READ MORE: Reinventing the South Florida seawall to help marine life, buffer rising seas
The wall itself is 3D-printed, a concept popularized by a Miami-based tech start-up called KindDesigns, resulting in concrete panels that are made to look like mangroves. The 3D-printed nooks and crannies are a perfect home for marine life - like crabs, small fish and oysters. Oysters, clams and mussels are all filter feeders, which means they clean the water around them while they’re eating their fill. The idea is that the more of the filter feeders cling to the seawall, the cleaner the canal gets.
Permit problems
Living seawalls may be a healthier choice for the local ecosystem, but they’re also more expensive to build. The permits are costly as well and would-be living seawall builders need a lot of them - from the city, the state, the county and the federal government. The city is the most expensive at 1.75% of the cost of building, the church said.
The Church by the Sea was the first to receive a permit to build a living seawall through a new program that incentivizes such projects for Fort Lauderdale homeowners and businesses. The Living Seawall Permit Fee Assistance Program helps fund the initial costs of the city building permits.
Church leaders say it was their seawall project that acted as the nudge the city needed in order to get the permit program up and running.
“The idea was that then other people would get in line, and if they’re going to build a seawall anyway, build this type of seawall to clean up the canal behind their house,” said Checchio.
But so far, the church stands alone in both applying for and receiving the permit, or the assistance. That stacks up against the 176 conventional seawalls permitted by Fort Lauderdale in the same window where the church applied for one, the church said.
“They are the only ones that come to my attention,” said Todd Hiteshew, deputy director of public works. But, he said, the city hopes this project shows other residents that a living seawall is a valuable, doable project.
“This will hopefully trigger some inspiration,” he said.
The city is building living seawalls into a few of its city-owned parks where they make sense for the region, Hiteshew said. Ideally, these will serve as demonstration projects to residents and even other local governments.
“We’re the only one right now in Broward County, that I'm aware of, that has this incentive to spur the growth of living seawalls,” he said. “Hopefully other cities and counties will copy us.”
With the permits figured out, the church is beginning construction on the new seawall, which they say could be the largest privately funded living seawall project in Florida, and plans to finish in Spring 2027. The $1.75 million project is funded almost entirely by community donations. There are 80 feet of seawall left to find sponsors for - $1,500 per foot. But, church leaders say they’re not worried.
“God’s hand has been on this project from the very start. We have had green lights everywhere,” Rozelle said. The little church launched a big capital campaign and donations started pouring in locally and from places as far away as Australia, Rozelle said.
Church on the water
The Church by the Sea formed 73 years ago on the water - literally. The first services took place aboard the Jungle Queen boat before there was a building to meet in. Worshipers in bathing suits would gather by the dock for service and donations were collected in fishing nets.
A seaside church that celebrates life in a beach community seems like a natural ally for this kind of environmental stewardship, especially one with a congregation full of boat and yacht owners.
The seawall, which will be constructed by Southeast Marine Construction, a Fort Lauderdale-based marine contractor, will include an added boardwalk the church is calling the Discovery Pathway - a dock-style walkway extending into the canal.
The pathway will allow students, residents, and other visitors to view the living seawall from the waterside. It’s meant to inspire others interested in replacing their own aging seawalls with infrastructure that supports marine restoration.
As a church that’s always been focused on serving the community, the decision to build a living seawall instead of a conventional wall aligned well with the identity of The Church by the Sea, said Checcio, the church’s pastor.
He believes that Christians not only have a responsibility to share the teachings of Jesus Christ, but also to leave the world better than they found it.
“The community should be a better place because of our involvement in it,” he said. “I think Christians have a responsibility to lead in areas like this that are making a difference in our community.”
This story was produced with financial support from Trish and Dan Bell and donors in South Florida’s Jewish and Muslim communities, including Khalid and Diana Mirza and the Mohsin and Fauzia Jaffer Foundation, in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners. The Miami Herald maintains full editorial control of this work.
