County steps in to ground seaplane during pandemic
Sheriff’s department warns pilot to heed anti-virus order
A Mill Valley seaplane business that uses Richardson Bay as its landing strip has been grounded because of the coronavirus emergency.
Aaron Singer, the owner of Seaplane Adventures, said a Marin County sheriff’s deputy informed him on Friday that he would be fined $1,000 per flight if he continued flying.
“We were about to go out on a proposal flight,” Singer said, explaining that the client planned on proposing marriage while in the air. “We get that quite a bit.”
Sheriff’s Sgt. Brenton Schneider said, “There have been multiple complaints from people in the community about the seaplane still operating when sightseeing tours are not allowed under the ‘shelter in place’ order.”
Schneider said the deputy was dispatched after Singer ignored an email warning him that his business does not fall under allowed business operations during the virus crisis and that he needed to cease operations related to commercial flights.
“We’re not being treated fairly,” Singer said. “We’re being singled out for what appears to be political reasons. The only complaint there is a record of is from Bill Schneider who is one of the original complainants who brought us up in front of the Planning Commission two years ago.”
In 2017, the Marin County Planning Commission held a four-hour hearing to consider limiting the business’ hours of operation and number of flights after Strawberry homeowners and other residents complained about noise from the planes.
During the hearing, Schneider, a spokesman for Strawberry homeowners, said that when Seaplane Adventures obtained its use permit in 1953, there were no homes in the area where the planes land and take off. Now “it is a densely populated residential neighborhood with several thousand residents,” he said.
The commission backed away from making any changes after
Singer’s lawyer, John Sharp, asserted that the county lacked jurisdiction over the flight service.
“We argued successfully that not only had Singer not violated any conditions of his use permit, but that the county’s jurisdiction is limited,” Sharp said. “Much of Seaplane Adventures’ business is regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration.”
For the same reason, Sharp says the business isn’t required to comply with the county’s coronavirus order.
Nevertheless, after being threatened with a hefty per flight fine, Singer shut down his business for a second time. He ceased operations in mid-March when the original stayhome order was issued and didn’t reopen until June 5.
“We reopened the same weekend that the county allowed indoor retail and boat charters,” Singer said.
He argues that the county is not enforcing the order consistently since other charter operations at Marin County Airport