La Cañada to address drone privacy issues

After receiving complaints about drones flying over public events, the La Cañada Flintridge City Council has asked its staff to bring the matter up for public discussion.

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Capt. Bill Song, who works in the Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s station, said the department had received reports of unmanned model aircraft sightings. He said the incidents raise questions about trespassing and privacy laws and how they might be applied.

“It’s such a new thing right now,” Song said of the increasingly popular remotecontrolled aircraft also known as quadcopters. The drones could be carrying “a video camera. Ormaybe someone is just playing with their quadcopter. Where do you draw the line?”

Meanwhile, some city officials said they also have received complaints about drones and are looking into how they might be better regulated. At a council meeting this month, City Manager Mark Alexander requested that the matter be discussed at a future meeting. A specific date on the matter has not been set.

“It’s a privacy issue,” Mayor Pro Tem Jon Curtis said at the meeting. “We’ve been having one buzz our house, a couple times.”

Pasadena real estate agent Philip Coombes owns four quadcopters and has operated the smaller varieties, including one he’s named “Fluffy” to counter public fear and skepticism, in and around La Cañada more than a dozen times as part of his business.

Hesaid he uses the quadcopters to take aerial photos and videos of properties for sale and posts them online, along with shots of other points of interest in the area surrounding them. So far, his portfolio includes panoramic images of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, La Cañada Flintridge Country Club and Memorial Park.

Coombes says he observes Federal Aviation Administration guidelines that prohibit model aircraft within three miles of an airport and restrict them to an altitude below 400 feet, as well as laws regarding privacy, trespassing and public safety.