Florida's Coastal Resiliency Law: Living Seawalls and Shoreline Rules, Explained

Florida's Nature-Based Coastal Resiliency law, passed as Senate Bill 302 and House Bill 1035, was signed on March 19, 2026, and took effect July 1, 2026. The law directs the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to develop design guidelines and standards for nature-based coastal resiliency and to adopt rules, subject to legislative ratification, creating a statewide permitting process for nature-based solutions.

That category includes living seawalls, shoreline and vegetation planting, seagrass planting, wave attenuation devices, and green and hybrid green-gray stormwater infrastructure. The rules that carry the new permit process are still being developed, so the guidance continues to take shape through FDEP rulemaking.

A living shoreline blends natural and built elements instead of a bare vertical wall. A common form is a gently sloped bank of native plants and mangroves above a low stone edge at the waterline, with a walkway or dock on top. The vegetation holds the bank, the edge breaks wave energy, and the habitat supports fish and wading birds.

Hybrid seawalls apply the same idea against an existing wall: a conventional concrete or sheet-pile wall keeps its structural job, and a vegetated shelf, sill, or planting zone is added at its base to soften the water edge and add habitat. For owners with an aging wall, the hybrid option is the most relevant to watch.

The law creates a permitting path for living shorelines with a faster application review than a standard individual permit, and it authorizes nature-based solutions in some additional areas, including aquatic preserves. The intent is to make the resilient option the easier one to permit, not the harder.

Until DEP's rules are final, the practical answer for a specific project is the same as for any shoreline work: confirm the current rule with the department and your local government, and have an engineer design the installation to the site. The law sets the direction; the implementing rules set the details.

The law also amends rules governing the Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserve, where it authorizes certain dredging and filling of submerged lands and placement of shoreline and seawall structures in defined circumstances, and it adds protections to the Terra Ceia Aquatic Preserve in Manatee County. Those provisions show the legislature's intent that resilient shoreline work be permitted rather than blocked.

For owners in Broward and Palm Beach, the practical takeaway is that the state is now formally encouraging nature-based shoreline treatments, and the rulemaking that follows will decide exactly how the new pathway works at the dock.

If your seawall is aging or a repair is on your list, ask your engineer whether a nature-based or hybrid treatment suits your site before you default to a straight replacement. The option set is broader than it was a year ago, and the permit path for it is being built now.

Every shoreline project still starts the same way: know the boundary of your property, the current elevation standard for your county, the depth at your dock, and the agency with jurisdiction over your waterway. A site review answers those questions.

A qualified crew can measure your water depth in a free site consultation and help you understand how shoreline, seawall, and depth issues interact on your property.

To request free resources about dredging, call (561) 299-1323 or email slselleck@gmail.com. Tell us about your dock, slip, or waterway and we will help you understand what it needs.