Welcome to the Town of Indian Shores

Indian Shores Town Hall
19305 Gulf Boulevard
Indian Shores, FL 33785-2214
indshore@myindianshores.com
Town Hall: (727) 595-4020
Fax: (727) 596-0050

The Town of Indian Shores is a special flood hazard area. Residents are asked to review our flood-related web pages.

Current Temperature: 85°
Conditions: Partly Cloudy

PUBLIC HEARING RELATIVE TO RECLAIMED WATER, TUESDAY, JUNE 30, 2009: Pinellas County Utilities will hold a public hearing in the Indian Shores Town Hall auditorium from 7:00 to 9:00 pm, to provide information about getting connected to the reclaimed water system. Connections will begin around the second week of July. Residents will be able to call the County and schedule an appointment to get connected. Inspections take about an hour. CLICK HERE for more information.

A TASTE OF ZUMBA! Fire up your holiday weekend with A Taste of Zumba Fitness, on Thursday, July 2nd, at the Town Hall Auditorium.
Registration begins at 5:30 pm. Zumba will begin at 6:00 pm. Bring money for the raffle, friends, enthusiasm and exercise clothes and shoes. Buy your tickets early, as space is limited. $6.00 pre-sale, or $8.00 at the door. For more information, contact Liz@Lizumba.com or call 813-476-9776.

COMING IN AUGUST

Come “Rock Around the Clock” with us as we celebrate Indian Shores’ 60^th Anniversary, at our Lost In The 50’s Sock Hop, on Saturday, August 1^st from 6 pm to 9 pm in the Town Hall Auditorium. Tickets are $8.00 per person. Get your tickets in advance at the Town Hall or at the door the night of the dance. CLICK HERE for more information.

It will be a night full of fun with - 50’s Music by “Dancing DJ” Mel of AudiostarDJ.com, a 50’s Costume contest, a Hula Hoop contest, and a dance contest. Your choice of a Hot Dog or Burger with chips and soda will be available to purchase for $5.00. Stop by and visit the Soda Jerk and let him make up one of your old time favorites for only $1.00.

Sea Turtle Advisory

E.D. Williams, Chief of Police

Indian Shores is very fortunate to host several sea turtle nests this year. You may have noted a nest marked and roped off on an area of the beach. Pinellas County contracts with the Clearwater Marine Aquarium for monitoring during sea turtle nesting season May 1^st through October 31^st each year.

Female turtles come ashore at night, dig a hole with their flippers and lay 100 to 150 eggs at a time. After a 45 to 70 day gestation period, hatchlings emerge from the nest at night and follow the moonlight reflecting off the Gulf into the water. This is why lighting along our beaches from May to October is such a sensitive issue – lights can be disorienting to the fledgling turtles causing them to head in the direction opposite the water that they need to survive.

Sea turtles are protected under the Federal Endangered Species Act of 1973 and Florida’s Marine Turtle Protection Act. The majority of residents are already using turtle-friendly lighting or are simply turning lights out for the turtles. The town is notified of properties in violation of lighting codes by Pinellas County and we endeavor to work with our property owners and residents to come into compliance.

Here are some solutions to help decrease light pollution that adversely affects the hatchlings: (excerpted from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s website)

There are ways that beach front property owners can modify their lights to prevent them from being seen from the beach. The following is a list of suggestions (these solutions may need to be used in conjunction with one another in order to prevent sea turtle disorientation).

Turn off unnecessary lights. Don’t use decorative lighting (such as runner lights or uplighting of vegetation) in areas that are visible from the beach and permanently remove, disable, or turn off fixtures that cannot be modified in any other way.

For lights that can be repositioned, face them away from the beach so that the light source is no longer visible.

Shield the light source. Materials such as aluminum flashing can be used as a shield to direct light and keep it off the beach. When shielding lights, it is important to make sure they are shielded from all areas on the beach (including from either side and on top), and not just from the beach directly in front of the light. Black oven paint may be used as a temporary solution.

Light sockets with an exposed light source (such as plain bulbs) should be replaced with fixtures that are specially made to recess and/or the light source should be shielded.

Replace fixtures that scatter light in all directions (such as globe lights or carriage lights) with directional fixtures that point down and away from the beach.

Replace lights on poles with low profile, low-level lamps so that the light source and reflected light are not visible from the beach.

ACTIVITIES AND EVENTS

FOR JULY 2009

Internet Access: Available at the Town Hall, (not in the library). You will need to purchase a $5 annual library membership card to use the computers. Reserve your ½ hr. time period Monday thru Friday between 8:30 am and 3 pm., by signing up in the Town Hall lobby.

Library Hours: Open Mondays & Thursdays, 1 - 4 pm, and Saturdays 10 am – 1 pm, 595-4020 x 23. Entrance is on the north side of the Town Hall Building under the green canopy. Membership is only $5 per year.

Zumba Class: A new class has been added by popular demand! The class now meets Mondays @ 5:30 pm and Wednesdays @ 9 am in the Auditorium. Zumba is a fun, aerobic workout to a variety of Latin rhythm music. For more info, call instructor Liz Quinones at 813.476.9776 or email her at: Liz@Lizumba.com. Cost is $4 per class or 6 classes for $20.00.

Yoga Class: Meets on Tuesdays & Thursdays @ 9 am in the Auditorium. Call Tom Meagher at 365.4901, or tmeagher1@yahoo.com. Cost is $6 per class.

Senior Exercise: Meets Tuesdays & Fridays @ 11 am in the Auditorium. Call instructors Cindy Brauer at 430.2756 or Sheryl King at 481.4950 for more information. Cost is $5 per class.

Council Meeting: Meets 2^nd Tuesday of each month @ 7 pm in the Auditorium.

ACBL Duplicate Bridge: Meets Wednesdays, 12:30 – 3:30 pm, in the Auditorium, directed by Jim Maloney, 393.8196. $5 per game, includes snacks. Come alone or bring a partner. We guarantee you will have a partner.

Ballroom Dance Lessons: Meets Wednesdays, 7:30 – 8:30 pm in the Auditorium. Practice session until 9 pm. A new dance offered every month! Waltz, July 1^st to 29^th. Lessons conducted by Carol Baker, 374.3881. Cost is $8 per person per class. No partner needed.

Tai Chi Class: Meets Thursdays @ 10:30 am in the Auditorium. Call Deb Marzani @ 397.2826 for more information. Cost is $2 per class donation to the Taoist Tai Chi Society.

Tennis Court: The Town’s tennis court is located on the north side of the park behind Town Hall, next to the Salt Rock Grill. Reservations are not required and there is no charge for use of the court. At this time, the lights are not working, so play is limited to daylight hours.

Recycling: Recycle bins are located at the end of 193^rd Ave. E., behind the Town Hall, for newspapers, plastic bottles & aluminum cans. (Glass is no longer accepted as there is no glass processing facility available to the county.)

POST DISASTER TOWN RE-ENTRY TAG PROGRAM: In preparation for the Hurricane Season, Indian Shores developed a user friendly post-disaster program to expedite your re-entry across the bridges when the authorities clear the beaches for occupancy. Currently, County Sheriff procedures require the checking of identification of all who return to the beach. As this is a very slow process, those returning may encounter extensive delays.

To speed up that re-entry over the Walsingham and Park Blvd. Bridges after a major storm or other disaster, we created a program using rear view mirror mounted Re-Entry ID tags, colored tan to identify you as an Indian Shores resident. These tags are available to owners and residents and are issued free of charge at Town Hall. They are numbered and a log is kept of the tags issued. Reported lost or stolen tags will be blacklisted. If you were issued a tag last year, you do not need to re-apply; however, we ask that you update any relevant information which has changed.

When the Sheriff’s Department deems it safe to re-enter the barrier islands, those holding re-entry tags must hang them from the rear-view mirror and the law enforcement officer will know that their ID’s have been checked beforehand. If practical, a separate lane will be created for residents with these tags. Re-entry will be expedited because law enforcement will not have to stop every car going through the checkpoint. Keep in mind, the Sheriff’s Department reserves the right to ask for additional identification at any time. The hang tags also act as a security system for police patrols after re-entry because vehicles belonging in town will be easily distinguishable from those that may not belong here. This also helps patrols in preventing looting and vandalism.

Businesses in town can apply for enough tags to cover their emergency staff. The business manager could retain the re-entry tags and issue them to employees when an evacuation is called. The employees should return the tag after the emergency. When the permit application is completed, the business owner may complete one form and provide a list of employee names, which must be updated annually.

Check with the front office staff (595-4020, ext. 0) if you have any questions or call the Mayor at 595-4020, ext. 27. Let’s hope we will never have to use them!

PUBLIC NOTICE OF INTENT
Please see the attached PDF document for the Town of Indian Shores Public Notice of Intent

ATTENTION FLOOD POLICY HOLDERS
Effective in May 2008, FEMA is changing its rules and will no longer offer the Town's 20% premium discount on certain flood insurance policies. For details, click on FLOOD INFORMATION, then ARTICLES, then select and read the articles entitled "2007-2008 Winter NFIP CRS Update" and "2008 FEMA Discount Policy Update".