A proposal to make heliports, landing strips and float plane docks “conditional uses” in the Mud Bay Land Use Service Area is pending before the LUSA board. 

Drew Degen drafted the proposed ordinance in order to stop planned helicopter flights by his neighbor, Ken Seright. As written, it would require Seright to ask the board for a conditional use permit to land his private helicopter at home. 

But a number of legal questions remain. 

“Ken’s strategy seems to be grandfathering himself in,” Degen said. 

Seright said recently that he would fly his helicopter home soon in order to establish a precedent. Such flights would be safe because his approach would be over water, he said.

Degen asked the board to get a legal opinion about whether Seright would be protected from future regulation because his “heliport” was in place first. LUSA board chair Dan Henry said he will talk to borough attorney Bob Blasco about grandfathering and the legal definition of a Heliport.

Degen said borough mayor Jerry Lapp’s previous inquiry of Blasco might have been hampered by Lapp’s lack of familiarity with the LUSA planning and zoning code. Blasco’s conclusion was that neither the borough assembly nor the LUSA board could regulate private helicopter traffic, Lapp said.

The board introduced the ordinance May 31, which sets it for the first public hearing at eh July meeting. A meeting date has not been announced.

Seright attended the LUSA meeting, in which the issue of heliports was listed on the agenda, but left before it came up. He has threatened to sue the board if he is contacted again about his helicopter.