Norfolk says law on kite flying is full of hot air

NORFOLK

The city has a message for residents: Go fly a kite.

Asked by city staffers Tuesday to regulate the flying of kites and small model airplanes on city property, the council declined, with some calling the request ridiculous.

"I'm not going to oppose kids trying a fly a kite on the beach," Councilman W. Randy Wright said.

Actually, flying a kite on city property has been against the law since 1953, Assistant City Manager Stanley A. Stein said. No one knows why the original ban was adopted, he said.

"I wasn't born then," Councilwoman Daun S. Hester said. "Can't we just rescind that ordinance?"

Wright, who was born in '53, noted: "My ward wasn't part of the city at that time. The law isn't being enforced and shouldn't be."

City staffers said they know lots of people are flying kites on beaches, parks and school grounds, and no one is being arrested. They're trying to loosen the ban and allow it in certain areas.

Several groups have requested permission to fly kites, said Deborah Morton, an assistant recreation director. The proposed ordinance would have allowed kite flying at Barraud Park, Tarrallton Recreation Center, Larchmont and Willard Model elementary schools, the Campostella Landfill and three short stretches of Ocean View beach, she said.

The mention of Ocean View, though, miffed Councilman Don Williams, who represents Willoughby. He said he's told city staffers that it should be allowed along most of the beach. "And you didn't do that," he said.

Mayor Paul Fraim suggested the city draw up an ordinance restricting kite flying only in areas where it isn't safe.

"You see the difficult position you put the council in," Fraim said to Morton. "If we say you can fly a kite here, that means you can't fly a kite anywhere else."

Stein said he will huddle with City Attorney Bernard A. Pishko to come up with a compromise.

Morton said that in the summer, Virginia Beach officials ban kite flying on some Oceanfront stretches. Chesapeake, Portsmouth and Suffolk officials said their city codes are silent on the issue.

Said Portsmouth Senior Deputy City Attorney George Willson: "If we weren't allowed to go fly our kites, as many times as we've been told to, what would we do?"

Pilot writers Jen McCaffery, Mike Saewitz and Dave Forster and news researcher Jakon Hays contributed to this story.

Harry Minium, (757) 446-2371, harry.minium@pilotonline.com