A proposed regulation giving Anchorage Police power to cite drone pilots is being rebuked as illegal by local unmanned aircraft businesses.

Assembly member Patrick Flynn first proposed a new ordinance to list specific drone flight plans as a public nuisance on Feb. 14. According to the proposal, flying a drone within 50 vertical feet of a private property without permission of the owner could result in penalties ranging from $50 to $300 on the first offense.

“This is an anti-voyeurism ordinance, a pro-privacy ordinance, that basically says you can't use a drone to spy on your neighbors,” said Flynn.

Since the first reading of the proposed regulation, Anchorage start-up Indemnis, House of Hobbies and Alaska Aerial Media reached out to Flynn to discuss their concerns over the ordinance targeting drone users.

Indemnis president Alan Erickson said it’s the opinion of his lawyers that the proposed ordinance is illegal, and the municipality has no jurisdiction over enforcing rules in federal airspace. Erickson said the FAA is in charge of rulemaking on all airspace more than one inch off the ground.

“When you have your local legislative body trying to regulate something that you know for a fact that they're not able to, that causes some concern,” said Erickson.

Following the meeting with the drone businesses, Flynn decided to write an amendment to the ordinance, exempting “operators holding a valid FAA petition or certification” from public nuisance charges. Although the amendment would exempt businesses like Indemnis from the regulation, Erickson said it’s the principle of the regulation he can’t support.

“If [the ordinance] passes, I can literally guarantee that at some point it will put the city in a lawsuit that will cost the taxpayers money, and the city will lose,” said Erickson.

Flynn said, he understands the proposed law would be “very difficult” to enforce, but still said it’s important to begin regulating a booming industry expanding into uncharted territory.

“It's more of a public policy statement, honestly,” said Flynn.

The ordinance will be up for public comment and potential passage at Tuesday’s Anchorage Assembly meeting.