Comments related to TCC Agenda Item 213 for September 19, 2007:

Hello,

I’m a homeowner and I live in Tierrasanta next to De Portola Middle school.  Occasionally on weekend mainly between 8am – 12noon, I like to come to the baseball field and fly my electric airplanes.  My friend and I normally fly when there are no children playing in the field.  We do not damage the grass or impose any littering in the field.  The electric motor is fairly quiet and I don’t see any hazardous condition.  We do not fly over the house or over the school.  We mainly fly within the field or sometime over the canyon behind the field.  My question to you as the city counsel Is, does Tierrasanta have any problem for us being there at the field?

The reason, I ask is I know the gas power airplanes have to be in designated areas due to the fire hazard/noise and the electric power we don’t have that problem As far as noise, Miramar jets flying all day and night so the noise shouldn’t matter.  I just wanted to make sure everyone is happy.

Best regards

Richard

From TCC:

3. Add an agenda item, #213, to hear about flying electric model airplanes over De Portola middle school and the canyons to the north. Anyone who has an opinion on whether this acceptable or unacceptable is invited to contribute. This will be an information item with no vote by the TCC

re: item #213 - flying model airplanes over DePortola field
Although I don't live there currently, I used to HATE the noise the model airplanes made near my house - especially the gas powered ones. It truely does detract from the quiet enjoyment of one's property.
I confronted the flyers on numerous occasions. Everyone one of them was from outside the community.

why is Pop Warner using the fields the business of the TCC? All field usage is coordinated through the Tierrasanta Recreation Council, which oversees/advises on all joint use in the community.

it is illegal to fly airplanes at De Portola – absolutely, positively.

And what happens on school district property that is governed by a joint use agreement overseen by the Rec Council is not the purview of the TCC.

Regarding the model airplanes, we used to have a sign at De Portola forbidding this use.  Even with the sign, we occasionally ran into avid flyers who would tell us it was not a problem to fly when there were Little Leaguers playing games there.  I need to further check this out but I think this is a use not allowed by the school, and this has been discussed at OS and TRC,  Regardless, I think this is an inappropriate use at any joint use field.  I believe there is a field at Miramar, run by a club, for this activity.

One of our police storefront officers did an article on it years ago – I believe it is a violation of the Municipal Code, and/or the state Education Code and schools police can ticket for it as well.

Are we sure the sign is gone?

I am spending some time at Serra these days and the planes are being flown on the baseball field, FYI (I know its not technically our jurisdiction but thought for info purposes you would want to know)

Thanks for the heads up – we’ll check again that the signs are in place so people can be ticketed.

We’ve had this problem on and off for years. Even had someone hit by a plane.

It’s dangerous. People can be hurt. We had someone hit by a model airplane in the past. They can start brush fires. They can break people’s windows. The School District has its rules and so does the city. Jim McNerney flew model airplanes and he was extremely active at the MCAS Miramar model airplane club before he died. His planes sold for over $10,000 when he died – and that was only for a handful of his.

Skateboarding was illegal on public property until a few years ago when the state passed legislation indemnifying jurisdictions if they built skateboard parks. Until then, the police used to regularly be called to parks and schools to make the kids stop.

If you read the Park and Rec rules carefully you will find it is illegal to fly a kite in our parks.