INDIAN SHORES, Fla. — Just steps from the sandy beaches along Indian Shores, the staff at Indian Shores Coffee are serving up something special.
The business, like others in the area, rebounded after the devastation from Hurricane Helene.
Watch report from Mary O'Connell
“We got about, I want to say three and a half feet of water inside the shop,” said Amelia Levasseur, who works at Indian Shores Coffee. “It took us about six months to reopen.”
Through the recovery, neighbors recognize the beach remains the lifeblood of coastal communities.
“We depend on like that tourism,” said Levasseur. “We need that foot traffic, and without a beach, we don’t have that.”
Now, Pinellas County is beginning a beach nourishment project. Sand placement started this week on Indian Shores beach near 197th Avenue.
The nourishment will continue south along the beach.
“It is very important to Indian Shores, not only to have people come and visit this beautiful place, but it does protect our infrastructure,” said Diantha Schear, the Mayor of Indian Shores.
The Pinellas County Commission authorized funding from the Tourist Development tax for a one-time beach nourishment project, which includes replacing sand lost to erosion from Clearwater Beach to North Redington Beach on Sand Key, along with Treasure Island and Upham Beach.
“The county took that on on our own,” said Pinellas County Commissioner Kathleen Peters. “We’re paying just under $126 million to do it.”
Officials said the Sand Key portion of the project will be constructed with gaps because the county hasn’t been able to obtain more than 91 temporary construction easements.
Peters explained the sand is a critically important piece of infrastructure and that the entire beach nourishment project should be done by March.
“We have not nourished our beaches since 2018, and they need to be maintained with nourishment every five years, so we’re behind, and as many people saw that behind and with the storms that we had eroded our beaches to non-existent, where seawalls were showing,” said Peters. “We saw structures that we didn’t even know existed that we have not seen since before 1960,” said Peters.
Leaders want people to know the beaches along Indian Shores and other cities as this project progresses will stay open and accessible during construction, though sections of the beach, beach access, and parking areas will close for safety when the contractor is in the immediate area.
County leaders said easements are still being accepted and additional properties may still be added to the project depending on the stage of surveying. People who are interested can contact the County through signforsand@pinellas.gov.
Officials said if construction is within five days of a property owner who has not signed, then it will be too late for that property owner to sign an easement to get sand.
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