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Update On Genesee County Park

Joined
Nov 8, 2016
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Location
Northern Ontario Canada
This is a little update from what was posted here and what has transpired:

UAS operators will congregate at the Genesee County Park where group member (Part 107 operator) Jason Harrison was detained, ticketed and had his equipment confiscated for legally flying a drone. The Genesee County Park has an anti-drone ordinance that is in direct violation of Michigan State's MCL 259.305 law that prohibits a political subdivision from creating or enforcing any ordinance regarding the operation of UAS. Today we will be meeting with an attorney to discuss the options and costs of seeking a declaratory judgement and we'll have at least some who are willing to fly and face enforcement actions to get this issue in front of prosecutors and a judge.

We'll look to have a full report after the event and there may be a GoFundMe legal fund created to take the next steps in a declaratory judgement process. What happens with this action and Michigan's UAS preemption will be highly critical nationally given that 16 other states have invoked similar language in following Michigan's lead. This can set the tone for those other states and assure that local ordinances are indeed nullified.

15811


So on the day this was to happen they closed the park

Jason Harrison
Mysteriously, the park had an unscheduled closure today.
The park system is 11,000 acres and they cannot close them all.
We landed at one of their nearby parks.
Had a great picnic came up with a great strategy to solve this issue.
Nobody got arrested or cited today.

Vic Moss
So they closed the park you all were going to fly at?

Jason Harrison
Yes.
It was a big disappointment to other patrons. There were at least two separate trailers full of horses that arrived to find the park closed. What a disappointment to load your horses and haul them however many miles only to arrive and find the park closed.
No big deal for us, there was another park in this same system within about 3 miles. So we went there instead.

Ryan J. Latourette
A longer summary will follow, but the overall basic is that despite a heavy police presence (and I do mean quite heavy - nearly one officer for each attendee) there were no detentions and no tickets. But drone flight directly at the event was also not witnessed by the park officers. It was, however, agreed that the next logical step is to seek a declaratory judgement. There are some options to be considered in such.
Drone image of their park headquarters (location of their police force).
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More updates:

We as drone pilots formed a new organization called MCDO MIchigan Coalition of Drone Operators and recently filed a lawsuit against genesee county in regards to their unlawful drone ordinance.

BFB308CD-932D-45DD-8BA3-D5F8F170CAB7.jpeg
 
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Good for you guys, ? To many Chiefs want to make their own rules.
 

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