Clyde Hill News: Drones, the FAA, and you
Also: 17th St Stormwater and a Transparency Update re code enforcement
Normal trash operation resumed this week. Also, some contracts that the City expected to bring for Council approval in February appear delayed until March. Now, our disclaimer:
Disclaimer: while I am a councilmember on the Clyde Hill City Council, I write this newsletter in my capacity as an individual resident. Any opinions expressed are my own and not necessarily the position of the City. The information and references here are from public sources. I welcome email responses — and if the topic is about City business I will respond from my City email account.
17th St Stormwater Update
From the Administrator’s Weekly Report this week:
Staff continues to reach out to the property owner with the blockage without success. Certified letter was mailed this week. Upon further examination of the video work completed in 2021 we believe we have a possible solution. The solution requires participation and cooperation from the property owner. Email update was sent to the rest of the impacted property owners Thursday. We continue to encourage the neighbors to ask the property owner to reach out to us as soon as possible.
Clyde Hill Views, Indeed
Last week, downtown Seattle looked particularly beautiful floating above the clouds from Clyde Hill:
This section of the newsletter is about what I learned from trying to improve on this photo by flying an old (hand-me-down-from-a-friend) drone with a camera. Specifically, this section summarizes FAA guidance following a 911 phone call from a Clyde Hill resident about my drone and the subsequent friendly discussion with CHPD and the FAA. (None of what follows is legal guidance or advice. Really.)
The Short Version
The FAA makes the process for recreational flyers very easy at https://www.faa.gov/uas/. The requirements for flying a small drone (under 55 pounds) for “purely recreational purposes” are straightforward:
Pass a test. “All recreational flyers must pass an aeronautical knowledge and safety test and provide proof of test passage (the TRUST completion certificate) to the FAA or law enforcement upon request.” There’s no cost and there are a bunch of free online providers (like the Boy Scouts of America) available here.
Register the drone. “If your drone weighs more than .55 lbs, register your drone through the FAA's DroneZone.” You can do that here.
Follow basic rules. “Follow safety guidelines on the FAA website or of an existing aeromodelling organization.” These rules include concepts like not flying under the influence of drugs or alcohol, not interfering with emergency response or law enforcement, and giving way to and not interfering with manned aircraft.
Transparency update: Enforcement Policy
Earlier this month, the City offered an update about its land use code enforcement policies. The key change they called out: the person lodging a complaint “must show that they are materially affected by the code violation.”
I wrote a little about this in last week’s “Land Use Code (Title 17) Update (delayed) and Enforcement (not yet paused),” link. You can see the slides here or watch video of the presentation and discussion here.
There are a couple of oddities that stand out to me as a resident after looking a little harder at this update:
Did the City tell residents about the change?
Is the change for all complaints or just some?
As a resident, I’m not sure how I was supposed to find out about this change. The City has sent out three newsletters since the change in late May 2021 (link); I don’t see this change in any of them. The change is mentioned on the “Neighborhood Matters” page on the City’s website. It’s not called out in any way. The change also appeared, in passing, in the May 27, 2021 Administrator’s Weekly Report (link), which is not typical resident reading.
As a resident, the scope of the change is also not clear. This change applies to “complaints about accessory structures” according to the Administrator's Weekly Report item. The “Neighborhood Matters” web page describes it in the section on Living Fences, apart from other land use code. So, is this change for all complaints or just some?
This is not a strong transparency moment. Neither the change nor the communication of the change was loud or clear.
This week’s report from the City Administrator adds another wrinkle. It asks to “Please reference the Mayor’s email dated January 15th for an update” with respect to the January Council Meeting’s Code Enforcement Resolution. It’s not clear what residents should take from that notice.
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Dean Hachamovitch