City sends drone law back to the hanger

BY PRU SOWERS

KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER

What almost went up came crashing to the ground on Oct. 7 when a new ordinance regulating when and where aerial drones can be flown in Key West was abruptly pulled off the table before its second and final reading by the City Commission.

Commissioner Jimmy Weekley had worked for weeks to hammer out a new ordinance that would protect the public from drone accidents and possible invasions of privacy while still allowing hobbyists and film producers to use the unmanned aerial systems (UAS). A first reading of the proposed ordinance passed Sept. 16 that included input from commercial drone operators as well as Peter Horton, Monroe County Airports Director, and Glenn Culliford, chief pilot for the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District.

“We had an agreement that everybody agreed with. My goal of public safety was being achieved. And folks in their businesses were going to be able to continue, also,” Weekley said.

But Assistant City Attorney Ron Ramsingh, who had drafted the ordinance that passed on first reading, dropped a bombshell at the commissioners’ Oct. 7 meeting, saying after further research his legal opinion was that the city could not enact its own ordinance because the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has yet to issue its own set of guidelines for drone operation.

“What you have before you is a different ordinance from what you essentially approved at your last meeting,” Ramsingh told commissioners. “What we now have before you is a very simple ordinance in its content, which basically says if you operate a UAS in or over the city of Key West, you have to have the proper FAA approvals to do so.”

However, receiving FAA approval would be difficult, if not impossible. While the FAA works on delivering comprehensive drone guidelines by September 2015, its original regulations are still in force. Those regulations require UAS operators to either have a certificate of authorization, which is restricted to government agencies; get a letter of exemption from the FAA; or be a member of a UAS hobbyist club. There are no drone hobby clubs currently in Key West.

“What the heck happened?” an exasperated Horton asked commissioners. “Last month we had a regulatory ordinance. Now we have an ordinance that bars not only the commercials but also bans the recreational. That doesn’t follow FAA guidelines.”

Horton’s frustration was echoed by local film producers, who had worked with Weekley on the language for the ordinance passed on first reading. Michelle Cates, of Vivid Aerial Media in Key West, said she was “shocked” to receive an email the day before the meeting with the new language that threw out “all the hard work we did.”

“We’re not going to regulate them anymore. Now it’s a complete ban on them,” she said.

But Ramsingh stuck to his legal guns

“I feel like we have strayed into an area where we were allowing something the federal government prohibits. In essence, we had an invalid law that permitted something that was otherwise prohibited,” he said.

Weekley was clearly unhappy with the legal turn of events.

“We need to protect ourselves. All we need is to have an accident at one of our major events where someone gets hurt,” he said.

But Ramsingh said any accidents would be a civil matter and not involve the city, since it would be deferring to the FAA regulations.

Weekley said after the meeting that he wants to meet with Ramsingh and City Attorney Shawn Smith to better understand what their legal reasoning is for dumping the original proposed ordinance. In the meantime, drone users can basically operate their machines anytime and anywhere they would like in Key West because the FAA doesn’t have the enforcement manpower to stop them, he said.

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