Clearwater mixes three very different places to light: waterfront homes on Island Estates, condos and hotels on Clearwater Beach, and older neighborhoods on the mainland. Keywest Lights & Electric installs JellyFish Lighting in all of them from our base in Seminole, as an Authorized Dealer of JellyFish Lighting and an independent, licensed electrical contractor (EC13014717). We are not JellyFish Lighting, the company.
JellyFish is permanent lighting first. Most evenings it’s a clean warm white along the roofline; on others it’s brighter white for security around the dock, driveway and entry; and for a business it’s one steady brand color. Holidays and boat-parade nights are the bonus.
Planning lights for a Clearwater home? Call (727) 476-7079 or request a free estimate online.
Keywest Lights & Electric is an Authorized Dealer of JellyFish Lighting. We are not JellyFish Lighting.
Island Estates: waterfront homes and a holiday-lighting tradition
Island Estates was built by dredge and fill in the 1950s and 1960s and platted between 1957 and 1969. Its roughly 210 acres have one way in, off Memorial Causeway, and according to the city’s neighborhood plan, almost every property is on the water. Most single-family homes went up before 1970, and many are being replaced by larger, elevated homes. A conservation overlay adopted in 2002 caps single-family homes at 30 feet above base flood elevation.
Holiday lighting is part of the neighborhood’s identity. The Island Estates Civic Association, organized in 1962, has a board position for holiday lighting, and residents rank the boat parade among the area’s top strengths. A JellyFish roofline lets a canal home join in every December without ladders or extension cords, then go back to warm white for the rest of the year. Census estimates put the median owner-occupied home value in ZIP 33767, which also takes in Clearwater Beach and Sand Key, at about twice the citywide figure, so we treat each install as finish work.
Clearwater Beach: turtle season and Beach by Design
The city calls Clearwater Beach both a world-famous tourist destination and home to more than 8,000 families. Its Beach by Design plan shapes a mix of attached homes, condos and hotels, from Pier 60 and Beach Walk to the City Marina and the Sand Key Bridge over Clearwater Pass, and it includes a recommended color palette for buildings. When a beach business wants its brand color on the roofline, we pick a steady color that suits the building.
Clearwater is on FWC’s list of cities with a sea turtle lighting ordinance, and nesting season in Pinellas runs May 1 through October 31. For beachfront homes and businesses, we set up turtle-friendly schedules so the lights stay off near the beach for those months.
Salt air and storm tides are part of beach life, too. Helene pushed the Clearwater Beach gauge to 6.67 feet above high tide in 2024, its highest since records began there in 1973. We use corrosion-resistant hardware, fasten the track to solid framing and keep the controller indoors, up off the floor.
Mainland Clearwater: 1970s homes and downtown storefronts
Citywide, 55.9% of Clearwater’s homes were built before 1980, and the 1970s were the biggest building decade at 26.7%. In homes that age, we start by checking the condition of the outlet and circuit the controller will use. Downtown, the 488-acre redevelopment area runs from Clearwater Harbor to Highland Ave, with Coachman Park on the bluff.
For businesses, Clearwater’s code allows LED lighting that outlines doorways, windows and facades as long as it doesn’t change intensity, brightness, color or direction, and it prohibits signs that flash or blink. Commercial buildings get steady brand colors on a schedule, and we check the sign code for your address before setup. If a home is a locally designated historic property, material changes to the exterior need a Certificate of Appropriateness, and we check that before we schedule.
Power and the install
The controller plugs into a GFCI-protected outlet indoors, usually in the garage. Where there isn’t one in the right spot, we add a new outlet or a dedicated circuit, and that work requires an electrical permit. We pull the permit and handle the inspection for you. All of Pinellas is in the wind-borne debris region for typical homes, with a 145 mph design wind speed, so every run is fastened to the building rather than clipped on.
- Free estimate: we measure the roofline, note the eave height and soffit style, and choose the controller spot.
- Written proposal: footage, track, spacing and any outlet or circuit work.
- Approvals: if deed restrictions, a condo board or historic review apply, we provide the details they ask for.
- Install and app setup: power first, then track and lights, then your everyday, security, holiday and turtle-season schedules.
JellyFish Lighting’s 5-year parts warranty on the roofline lights, controllers and power supplies comes with every system, and our workmanship warranty covers the install for 2 years, or 5 years for Member Care Plan members.
Clearwater JellyFish Lighting FAQ
Can I keep my Clearwater Beach roofline lights on in summer? Not where they can be seen from the beach. Clearwater is one of the Pinellas cities FWC lists with a sea turtle lighting ordinance, and nesting season runs May 1 through October 31. We set beachfront homes up with turtle-friendly schedules that keep the lights off near the beach for those months, then open up the full palette for the holidays.
Does Island Estates have rules for holiday lights? The Island Estates Civic Association has a board seat dedicated to holiday lighting, and the city’s neighborhood plan lists holiday lighting and the boat parade among the area’s amenities. We haven’t seen written lighting rules, but deed restrictions and condo rules can apply, so check yours and we’ll supply the specs for any approval.
Can my beach hotel or restaurant use JellyFish lights? Yes, in one steady color. Clearwater’s code lets LED lighting outline a building’s architecture without counting as a sign only if it doesn’t change intensity, brightness, color or direction. Near the beach, turtle season also applies, so we plan the schedule around both.
What changes on a newer, elevated home? Mostly height and power. Rebuilt homes in Island Estates and on the beach sit higher, so the eaves are higher too, and the garage may be on the ground level below living space. We plan the equipment and the controller spot at the estimate.
Will I need a permit? If the install needs a new outlet or dedicated circuit, yes. That work requires an electrical permit, which we pull, and we handle the inspection for you.
See our JellyFish Lighting page for how the system works, or our permanent lighting page for the bigger picture. Around the county, visit JellyFish Lighting in Pinellas County, and for other electrical work in town, our Clearwater electrician page.
Ready to light your Clearwater home? Call (727) 476-7079 or request a free estimate.
JellyFish Lighting is a trademark of JellyFish Lighting. Keywest Lights & Electric is an independent Authorized Dealer and is not JellyFish Lighting, the company.