Prairie Village City Council tackles complex issue of drone regulation

People who use flying drones to spy on neighbors in their backyard or buzz festival crowds could face trouble in Prairie Village under a new city ordinance being considered.

The City Council on Tuesday voted 6-4 to tell staff to continue developing the measure regulating “unmanned aerial vehicles” and bring it back to a future meeting for more discussion.

But the council members are still deeply split on how to enforce a violation whose miscreants could be blocks or even miles away and whether drones are even causing enough problems within the city to warrant a response.

“I kind of think at this point we’re looking for a problem to match up with our solution,” said Councilman Dan Runion, who voted against moving forward with the ordinance.

Others voting against moving ahead included council members Serena Schermoly, Brooke Morehead and Courtney McFadden.

Council members Chad Herring, Jori Nelson, Tucker Poling, Andrew Wang, Sheila Myers and Terrence Gallagher voted to continue working on the ordinance. Councilmen Ron Nelson and Ted Odell were absent.

The council asked legal staff to begin researching drone regulations in 2017 after someone flew a drone over the annual Jazzfest event at City Hall.

Under Prairie Village’s proposed ordinance, it would be illegal to fly a drone without permission over an individual, an open-air event with 100 or more people, or over private property that doesn’t belong to the operator. Operators would also be banned from using drones while intoxicated, in a reckless or careless manner or to conduct surveillance.

The proposed ordinance would apply only to people using drones for recreational uses or as part of a hobby. It would not affect commercial users, such as construction or media companies, who typically have operators licensed by the Federal Aviation Administration.

City Attorney David Waters said the city is somewhat limited in how much it can restrict drones because much of their activity, such as how high they can fly, is regulated by the FAA. Instead, the ordinance would focus on the city’s police powers to protect public safety and welfare.

Waters said he is still working with the city prosecutor and police department to determine what penalties violators would face. For example, the city currently charges people caught peering into other people’s homes with a class A misdemeanor.

He added that the ordinance could be difficult for police officers to enforce because some drones can be operated from long distances, and it may not be apparent the drone is being used illegally.

“You don’t know if it’s a teenager in his backyard or if it’s an engineering group that is surveying power lines for a grid-mapping system,” he said. “That’s going to be a struggle no matter what.”

Police Chief Tim Schwartzkopf said he was unsure how many complaints about drones his office has received in the last year, estimating it was “less than five.”

“It’s certainly not hit our radar,” Schwartzkopf said.

That prompted some council members to say it was too early to draft an ordinance. They also said Kansas statutes already give people legal options if they believe they are the victim of stalking or invasion of privacy

“I don’t think we should spend any more money on this until we have an issue to address,” McFadden said.

Jori Nelson, who had a run-in with a drone flying low over her property, said there likely are few complaints to Prairie Village police because the city lacks any drone regulations. Proponents also argued that it was unreasonable to require people to go through the time and expense of a lawsuit to deal with a harassing drone operator.

“The private right of action for invasion of privacy is incredibly difficult to make,” Poling said.

Mayor Eric Mikkelson did not vote on the ordinance because it was discussed during the “council committee” period of their regular meeting. But he said he supported the ordinance because there currently are no city-based remedies for residents needing help.

“There are more drones coming,” Mikkelson said. “I’d like to see us be proactive on this issue.”

In other business, the council voted to name the new park under construction at W. 67th Street and Roe Avenue in honor of former Mayor Laura Wassmer, who stepped down earlier this month.

This story was originally published January 25, 2019 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Prairie Village City Council tackles complex issue of drone regulation."