South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD)

“The District” mandates that lakes cannot have an escarpment (drop-off at the top of the shoreline) over a certain number of inches, cannot have a steep slope that would be unsafe for people or animals, and must have the number of littoral plantings that are specified in the original SFWMD Permit granted when the community was first built. Our system fully remediates both scenarios and thus brings communities back up into compliance with The District and helps them avoid letters of non-compliance and other permitting hold-ups.

Our Hybrid Shell System has been approved by Lee County on several Limited Development Orders (LDO’s) for shoreline stabilization and erosion control. According to the Land Development Code, rip rap, other large aggregates, and seawalls cannot be installed behind single-family homes on private lakes. Our Hybrid Shell System is now considered non-hardened shoreline by Lee County, allowing its use behind single-family homes. In fact, it is the ONLY long-term shoreline stabilization system that the county approves for this use.

We have used this product in Collier more than any other county! It requires no LDO or site-permit and it fulfills Collier’s requirements for littoral plantings and littoral species on freshwater lakes.

Charlotte, Sarasota, and Hillsborough Counties

Our shell system brings all shorelines back into compliance and provides the required number of littoral plantings in each of these counties with a basic site-permit.

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(239) 560-6923

Now booking for Spring 2025! Get your community’s lakeshore restoration scheduled today!

Hybrid Shell System^{TM, Pat. Pend}

This is our most popular system to date! We worked alongside civil engineers to develop this totally different shoreline system as an alternative to common rip rap. The community it was originally developed for needed a smaller aggregate and also required native littorals to be planted on their shoreline. The Hybrid Shell System was born! It is now our most popular system because it provides immediate erosion control, beautiful native plants, and long-term cost savings. Case studies have proven that the system can withstand hurricane-force winds, maintain its shape and function after being submerged under six feet of water, and can actually become more effective as it ages. The system is currently patent-pending and in the late stages before being fully issued. Below are some of the benefits of this system explained in detail.

Beautiful Before & After Results

Before After

One of our projects in Bonita Springs was completed just 3 weeks before Hurricane Ian made landfall in September of 2022. The customer was very worried about the damage that would be inflicted to our young system and plants. We visited the site and did a post-hurricane evaluation and case study and found that out of 4,000 linear feet of shoreline, only a small 70-foot section (which was pummeled with 2-3 foot waves) had some displaced shell! We installed a larger aggregate in this section and the client was overall thrilled with our system!

Pictured is our oldest system - installed in Spring of 2016 in Estero, FL. You can see the shell is holding steady and the Golden Canna Lilies are healthy and established. Since installation, the residents on the lake have stated that the lake maintenance crew rarely has to spray any weeds along the shoreline, if any at all!

Our system features proprietary components that were developed alongside civil engineers and various community projects. For instance, the imported blend (above picture) that we utilize contains ingredients that allow it to achieve a high compaction rate and makes it more resistant to erosion and hydrodynamic forces. This is far more effective than typical fill dirt and muck dredged from the bottom of a lake.

For maximum effectiveness, the slope on the shoreline must be +/- 2 degrees, the shell must be a specific thickness, and the plants must be treated so that they root in within days, not weeks for minimal attrition rate. All of these factors have been optimized through years of experience and R&D… we do not simply dump shell and smooth it out!

“I prefer the more natural and less costly/invasive approach of re-grading/compacted crushed shell and robust littoral plantings for bank restoration and stabilization..”

-Bowman Engineering, Fort Myers, FL

“The Seabreeze Hybrid Shell System offers shoreline erosion protection, which supports live littoral plantings and has a natural beauty not found with rip rap.

It's a polished, inviting shoreline look.”

-W.J. Johnson & Associates Engineering, Cape Coral, FL

“we seldom, if ever, recommend harvesting material from the bottom of a lake.

The use of an imported fill gives you the most control over the sediment size (grain distribution) as well as what you want for an organic blend. That is important if you are attempting to establish littoral vegetation around the perimeter of the lake.”

-HWA, Fort Myers, FL

COST ANALYSIS

Money Saving

	Expected Lifespan	Maintenance Costs
Seabreeze Hybrid Shell Systemᵀᴹ ᴾᵃᵗᴾᵉⁿᵈ	Decades	$5/LF every 10 years*
Grading, fill, sod	3-24 Months	$5/LF every 3-24 months**
Geotube / Polyethylene containment systems / 3D open-cell systems	2-8 Years	$75-125/LF every 2-8 yrs***
Littorals Only (lake maintenance law care companies)	6-24 Months	$7.50-11.00/LF every 6-24months

*To fill in an average of 100 littoral plants every 100 linear feet an average of every 10 years.

**To replace 200sf of sod that has died at the water's edge every 100 linear feet every 5 8 years.

***The cost to tear out the old tube or sox, re-grade, and install a more permanent system.

NOTE: All expected lifespans are estimations only and are subject to change due to anomalous weather, environmental forces, and acts of God.

THE ONLY COUNTY APPROVED OPTION

Recommended by State and Local Authorities

South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD)

“The District” mandates that lakes cannot have an escarpment (drop-off at the top of the shoreline) over a certain number of inches, cannot have a steep slope that would be unsafe for people or animals, and must have the number of littoral plantings that are specified in the original SFWMD Permit granted when the community was first built. Our system fully remediates both scenarios and thus brings communities back up into compliance with The District and helps them avoid letters of non-compliance and other permitting hold-ups.
Lee County

Our Hybrid Shell System has been approved by Lee County on several Limited Development Orders (LDO’s) for shoreline stabilization and erosion control. According to the Land Development Code, rip rap, other large aggregates, and seawalls cannot be installed behind single-family homes on private lakes. Our Hybrid Shell System is now considered non-hardened shoreline by Lee County, allowing its use behind single-family homes. In fact, it is the ONLY long-term shoreline stabilization system that the county approves for this use.
Collier County

We have used this product in Collier more than any other county! It requires no LDO or site-permit and it fulfills Collier’s requirements for littoral plantings and littoral species on freshwater lakes.
Charlotte, Sarasota, and Hillsborough Counties

Our shell system brings all shorelines back into compliance and provides the required number of littoral plantings in each of these counties with a basic site-permit.