Yjorba Linda adopts ordinances regulating drone aircraft, banning adult businesses in Savi Ranch

Two new city ordinances – one establishing local regulations for drone aircraft and the other prohibiting adult businesses in Savi Ranch – take effect early next month after approvals by Yorba Linda's City Council.

The Unmanned Aircraft Systems ordinance regulates the devices commonly called drones on the basis of land use issues, which are considered regulatory rights of states and cities, since the Federal Aviation Administration is the only agency allowed to regulate navigable airspace.

Community-based safety requirements and restrictions that do not preempt federal aviation rules or authority are needed to protect the public from hazards associated with drones, city planner Nate Farnsworth stated in a recent report to the council.

The new ordinance regulates drone usage “primarily related to the potential takeoff and landing near special events and emergency responses,” Farnsworth noted in his report.

Drone takeoffs and landings are banned outside of an operator's (or observer in contact with an operator) visual line of sight; within 25 feet of another individual, excepting the operator or operator's designee; and on private property without the consent of the property owner.

Also prohibited are takeoffs and landings within 500 feet of a special event or emergency response without a city-issued temporary use permit, a device with any type of weapon attached to it and any violation of an FFA temporary flight restriction or notice to airmen.

The ordinance is based on a model that was developed by the Association of California Cities – Orange County, with input from the county Sheriff's Department and Fire Authority, the city's Parks and Recreation Department and representatives from local sports leagues.

The new ordinance banning adult businesses from locating in Savi Ranch makes permanent the moratoriums the council placed on the businesses in two interim urgency ordinances that were approved in May and June.

The urgency ordinances were adopted in response to concerns that an adult business might seek to lease the former TGI Friday's site on Eastpark Drive that closed in March. The site is about 200 feet away from the 69-unit Oakcrest Terrace apartment complex.

Also in the area is the 54-unit Oakcrest Heights apartment complex. The developments allowed higher densities to meet requirements under the city's state-mandated 2008-14 housing plan.

A 2004 adult business ordinance allowed the establishments in the Savi Ranch planned development and in M-1 (light industrial) zones but did not include a separation distance requirement from residential uses, noted a report to the council by planning intern Ashanti Mason-Warren.

Originally, residential uses were not planned in Savi Ranch, and residential uses near eligible areas in the M-1 zone were largely separated by significant grade differences along La Palma Avenue on the city's southern boundary, according to the report.