What do drones have to do with Sun City?
Board of Directors conversations have been livened up recently with dialog on controlling and regulating drones that are possibly or actually flying over the community.
Questions abound. Would drones help with rooftop maintenance inspections? Does the Village of Huntley control or regulate drones? Does the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) have authority over them? Are there a lot of drone flyers living in Sun City? What about insurance liability? Is drone use a problem in the community? What do drones cost to buy or rent?
Sometime last year, the board decided to look into this fascinating but mostly mysterious subject. The Modifications Committee, chaired by Don Kay, was asked to investigate and submit a policy covering drone activity in the community. At a January 9 meeting, a policy was approved, although some board members weren’t really sure if such a thing was needed or desirable.
Drones are pilot-less machines that are controlled electronically by trained experts on the ground.
The conversations continued in January and early February. A “drone policy” morphed into the possibility of the association acquiring a drone to help the staff maintenance department inspect and repair/replace rooftops in APNs (attached product/townhome neighborhoods, and the roofs of larger buildings, such as Prairie and Meadow View Lodges. The board tentatively decided that drones could photograph and inspect rooftops more safely and efficiently that sending workers up on ladders.
At the board’s February 27 meeting last week, the January 9 policy approval was scrapped, and the board had a conversation with another advisory group, the Insurance Subcommittee of the Finance Advisory Committee. Subcommittee chairman Gary Myers advised that the board needs to consider the insurance liability aspect of drones.
“If the board acquires a drone, we would work with our broker and insurance carriers to determine what the possibility of loss would be, and thus what the cost would be,” Myers said in a separate conversation with the Sun Day after the meeting. He spent a 50-year career in the insurance field.
“This same situation would arise if the association creates a policy governing drone use in the community, or if it requires users to register drones with the community,” Myers added. “There is concern and liability costs associated with any kind of drone use in Sun City.”
Finally, on February 27, the board put aside decision-making and decided to wait to see what kind of regulatory and controlling actions the Village of Huntley or the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) develop.
“The FAA essentially defines all drones as airplanes,” Myers said.
“I see the possibility of drones helping us in our maintenance,” Board president Dennis O’Leary said. “But we have a lot to learn about them, and we’ve decided to determine what actions the Village of Huntley and the FAA are going to take on this subject.”
Myers stressed that he isn’t an expert on drones or their use. But he did say that his son has flown a drone recently in the Sun City area, and drone use is increasing in the general public.
“Realtors are making extensive use of drones, especially in the Quad Cities area west of Chicago, to photograph homes for sale as part of marketing programs,” he said.
If there are drone users in Sun City reading this, please contact the Sun Day. Conversations with users would make a good follow-up story.
