REDINGTON BEACH, Fla. — There is outrage in Redington Beach after commissioners approved a near total ban on pop-up tents and canopies.
Neighbors, including those who own property on the beach, packed town hall Wednesday night to tell commissioners people need more than an umbrella to have shade.
In a town of only 1,400 people, more than 60 tucked inside and even outside city hall to plead commissioners to not ban pop-up tents and canopies. Many spoke how families need more than an umbrella for shade.
"I’m a [home]owner, I should put up a damn canopy and you can't take it down," said one resident attending the town hall.
For six years the town's ordinance banned tents on dry sand, which belongs to private homeowners. The mayor says the sheriff's office wanted them to clarify the ordinance.
"We own a house on the beach and we are completely against banning these tents,” said John V. Simon, Jr. “They are necessary for my wife for her skin. She receives cancer treatments every year."
By a 2-1 vote, the commission changed the ordinance to ban tents altogether, except if one of the six beachfront condominiums want them.
“We're for fair, customary use of the whole beach,” said Hoag Ostling after the meeting. “And we don't intend for that to be carved out just for us. That's ridiculous and unfair to everybody else.”
Ostling lives in one of those condos and surveyed owners he says are 100 percent against the ordinance and its change.
“I live on the beach, so I should be as selfish as anybody else and say, ‘hey, get off of my beach,’” he added. “I can't explain why I’m in favor of allowing the canopies there. I love to see the people on the beach.”
After the vote, talk turned to a petition drive to let voters decide.
“A vote on the ballot regarding the issue around the ordinance,” said beachfront property owner Elena Garcia. “So you heard many people calling for a vote and that's going to have to be our next step.”
Some people at the meeting support the ordinance. They tell 10 Tampa Bay they are part of a pending lawsuit filed against the town for allowing certain activities on their private property. That lawsuit could be decided later this year.
State law says ordinances take effect 10 days after passage.