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Pinellas May Forbid Skimpy Swimsuits That Reveal Too Much

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By STEPHEN THOMPSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 13, 2009

CLEARWATER - After receiving a slew of complaints, Pinellas County is working toward tightening its ordinances so beachgoers at county parks can no longer wear swimwear that reveals too much of their buttocks.

Dennis Long, the chief assistant county attorney, said there are some beachgoers whose swimwear meets current restrictions, even though all they are wearing is a loincloth and "their rear end is totally exposed."

The rewriting of the ordinance governing swimwear is just one part of a routine department-wide revision of laws at the parks and recreation department. The county commission is expected to decide by February or March whether there should be a public hearing on the proposed new laws. Then the commission will decide whether to approve them, Long said.

Jim Wilson, the parks supervisor at Fort De Soto Park – the county park where officials see the risqué swimwear most – said the staff there has seen beachgoers wear only a sea shell over their genitals.

If the new prohibitions are approved, they would apply at Fort De Soto, Sand Key Park in Clearwater and Fred Howard Park in Tarpon Springs – the three county parks with major beaches. But they would also apply at all county parks.

From a legal point of view, the ordinance would be rewritten in such a way that the present definition of nudity would be expanded so that it prohibits the exposure of the "cleavage of the nates of the buttocks," Long said. The exposure of breasts and male and female pubic areas are already prohibited.

Anyone who violated the new ordinance could be levied with a fine up to $500, Long said. But Wilson, the supervisor at Fort De Soto, said in all likelihood the staff would erect signs warning beach goers of the more restrictive measures, and warn them about the measures before issuing a citation.

"Sometimes you get people from out of the country who are not aware," he said.

Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at (727) 451-2336.

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