Celina council looking to ban drones

CELINA - A decades-old ordinance prohibiting flying any device over city parks may be expanded to include flights over all public property. If so, citizens would be allowed to fly devices - drones, remote control planes, toy rockets, etc. - only over private areas.

On Monday night, council's community betterment committee, chaired by June Scott, recommended banning flying devices over public property and public rights of way, including residential streets.

Formal legislation likely will be introduced at the next regular city council meeting at 7 p.m. July 13.

Council members last year, after learning a small drone was hovering over the Freedom Days festival, were informed a decades-old park ordinance bans flying any device over city parks.

Flying drones over any other property, though, is apparently fair game, according to Moore.

"We have a lot of stuff coming up here in the next month. We've got a lot of festivals coming up and that's what precipitated this," Scott said. "So if we do nothing will we run into it again?"

Councilman Jeff Larmore sought a complete ban of flying devices or drones due to safety concerns while Fred LeJeune, June Scott and Bill Sell supported a more measured approach, pointing out devices are flown by clubs and could be a good tool for the city.

Furthermore, city law director George Moore said the Federal Aviation Administration's unmanned aircraft regulations are to be released to the public by Dec. 31.

"The Feds are going to have some say in this area so maybe whatever we do might be pre-empted," Moore said. "At this point here, I think that we're certainly able to legislate in this area under home rule ... but whatever we do may be superseded in the near future."

"It would be kind of useless for us to pre-empt that ... with local ordinances," Sell said.

Larmore said officials need to take care of their own town with legislation.

"In my opinion, no drones should be flying around within the city limits, period," Larmore said, adding that people should fly them in the country. "I think it's just a bad idea itself."

If the issue were controversial, the room would be filled with drone enthusiasts, Larmore said.

"Well, where's the outcry against them?" Sell asked. "The same people who are opposed to them could be filling the gallery as well. They're not here."

Clubs members fly drones and children play with flying toys in the city, Sell said.

"There are guys who go up to the Lutheran church every Monday afternoon and they have a club where they fly drones around inside the Lutheran church ... if we outlaw them inside the city limits, 'hey guys, your club's done,' " Sell said.

Scott said a drone could help market city events.

"I'm not against this, I agree though it could be a safety issue but I also agree that it could be a tool that the city could use," Scott said.

The city, Scott suggested, should require drone users to obtain a permit from administrators.

Moore said St. Henry has a similar ordinance that allows its officials to know who is using drones and for what purpose.

"Personally, I think it becomes a safety and privacy issue in the city limits of Celina by having recreational drone usage," LeJeune said. "I think we need to reserve drone options for our safety service personnel that are working in a professional manner for the city but otherwise not allow drone activity for recreational type of activities."

Council members compromised and suggested the ordinance banning the flight of devices in parks be expanded to all public property. Drone supporters and opponents will have the chance to voice their opinions at upcoming council meetings.

The committee also briefly talked about junk but took no action.

Fire chief Doug Wolters said he's received numerous complaints about junk littering residential properties. A city ordinance spells out the definition of junk, he said. He intends to send letters to violators, but in some cases, he's having difficulty contacting them. According to Moore, violation letters must be served by a police officer or sent by certified mail.

Also, Wolters said he's concerned about people piling junk behind fences, luring rodents.

"(Let's) see what we can do different to modernize this for 2015 for this city," LeJeune said.

Administrators said they will research the issue further, including reviewing the junk ordinances of other cities.