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BELLEAIR SHORE, Fla. — A Tampa Bay area man was brought to court on Thursday for using an umbrella on the beach.

That's right — Pedro Redero was fined $150 for violating a rather unique town ordinance.

"Never in my life I thought I'd come to criminal court over an umbrella to protect myself," Redero said following his Thursday arraignment. 

The Belleair Shore ordinance, which was passed two years ago, reads that no person shall "erect, possess, or cause to be erected any tent, canopy, umbrella, temporary shade structure or recreation structure on the beach within the incorporated limits of the town."

According to Redero, it was put in place after a push from about 60 waterfront homeowners claiming umbrellas obstruct their beachfront view. 

RELATED: You could be fined for having an umbrella on one Tampa Bay beach

The violation happened in mid-June when Rodero was at the beach with his family. He said a Pinellas County Sheriff's deputy approached him on the beach and gave him the citation. He tells 10 Tampa Bay he had been issued verbal warnings previously.

"There's a lot of regulations, but the shade regulation really did it for us," Redero said. "That's unacceptable not to be able to have an umbrella at the beach."

According to Rodero, shade is necessary for safety and the town shouldn't be able to prevent families from enjoying their time on the sand. For Redero, it has. He said his family stopped going to the beach because of the ticket he received for violating the town's ordinance.

"I didn't go to the beach because I didn't want to go through this again, expose my kids to this," he said.

So, after filing paperwork to dismiss the violation, he appeared in court on Thursday along with his lawyer, Joseph Manzo, who is suing Belleair Shore to get rid of the ordinance altogether.

"The ideal outcome on this is... we're going to get this repealed, invalidated for being unconstitutional," Manzo said.

Rodero's hearing date will be set at the pretrial on Aug. 22.

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