SANTA CRUZ >> Santa Cruz is considering tightening the conditions under which people can operate drones within city limits.

Fire Chief Jim Frawley offered the first draft of a new citywide drone law to the city Public Safety Committee on Monday. Frawley said a push for Santa Cruz-specific regulations came largely in response to complaints over the years such as safety concerns from Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk operators and parents’ privacy concerns with the city junior lifeguards program. Recently, a business with outdoor spas raised the alarm when drones flew right above their bathing customers, Frawley said.

The city ordinance would aim to escalate existing Federal Aviation Administration rules, particularly for recreational users — where regulations are fewer. A working group including city department and business community representatives has begun meeting on the issue, he said.

“You have this combination of one, concern for public safety. Drones flying in crowded areas and areas where there are rides and over emergency incidents and things like that,” Frawley said to the committee. “There is a safety aspect to that. And you have this whole other piece of privacy and invasion of privacy and people’s private properties.”

Frawley said he plans to reach out to privacy rights groups and drone enthusiast groups alike for their input on the draft proposal, to find a balance between access and privacy.

“We need to gather all the things we can think of, put them in there and then shop them around to see how much concern there is,” Frawley said.

Douglas Thron, a real estate agent and drone cinematographer based out of Oakland, said he typically visits Santa Cruz to film several times a week. Thron, whose footage of great white sharks in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary was used in a Discovery Channel documentary, said Monday that he was unaware of Santa Cruz’s drone regulation discussions.

“The city doesn’t need to jump in the mix of creating regulations for these things. That’s what the FAA’s job is,” Thron said.

Thron said he believes there is a lot of misinformation circulating about the abilities of drone cameras to zoom in from afar and see into people’s homes. As for careless drone operators who come too close to people for safety, Thron guessed a new city law will not make a difference.

“The laws aren’t really going to change that, because the laws already exist,” Thron said. “According to the FAA, you’re not supposed to be flying over people already.”

Frawley said after the meeting that Santa Cruz needs its own set of drone rules because the FAA does not have the mechanisms or time to enforce local complaints. He said, however, that it was not yet clear who would enforce the new law — whether it be a code enforcement or police department issue.

Later during Monday’s meeting, Frawley offered a peek at the “more glamorous” proposal of a new city policy regarding authorized use of drones during emergency responses. After the meeting, Frawley cited the search for a 12-year-old girl missing in the Santa Cruz Mountains over the weekend as an example of how the fire department could make positive use of a drone with heat sensors during a search-and-rescue operation.

As initially proposed, violation of the city law would result in an infraction citation for first-time offenders and can be escalated by the city attorney to misdemeanor status for the second offense within six months. Were the proposed law to receive Santa Cruz City Council approval at two public readings, it would go into effect 30 days later.

Enforcement of such a law, Frawley said, will be problematic, particularly if the operator does not remain within line-of-sight with the drone. Unless rising to a particularly egregious level, Frawley said he thought it might rest on public complaints.

An audience member at Monday’s meeting suggested the city create an avenue for public complaints about drones.

Committee member Richelle Noroyan said she has “played with” a drone before and, unaware, likely broke many of the operation rules Frawley was proposing.

“I was just thinking, ‘My gosh, how do you enforce this,’ but it’s like a lot of laws, where these are setting standards,” Noroyan said. “Enforcing them’s difficult, but it is giving the person operating the drone standards of which to operate by.”

DRAFT DRONE LAW

A glance as some of the proposed provisions under discussion:

• Drones must be more than 25 feet away from people other than operator or except during takeoff/landing.

• Operators need property owners’ consent to fly over.

• Drones need to stay more than 100 feet away from Boardwalk or 500 feet from police investigations, traffic accident, fire, medical emergency, marine rescue and other incidents, except as authorized.

• Operated only when weather does not impair operations.

• Not over any city beach, park or recreational facility, where entrances are posted.

• Not for the purpose of conducting surveillance, unless authorized.

• Not with a weapon attached or while intending to cause harm.