It's crackdown time finally on those colorful nemeses of the air.
The City Council is considering an ordinance that would require hot-air balloon flight times to last at least 30 minutes in an almost completely unregulated industry that is keeping pace locally with Park City's general growth surge.Three companies run balloon tours in the area, a popular diversion that is drawing increasing fire.
"Complaints range from noise to privacy invasion," said City Manager Toby Ross.
"There are other concerns regarding the air-worthiness and financial responsibility of certain uninsured commercial hot-air balloon companies," adds a city memo on the subject.
The Snyderville Basin, a favorite takeoff-and-landing venue among balloon operators, is filling up steadily with subdivisions, creating an inevitable conflict. Residents are put off by the sound balloons make when their burners are fired, and some don't like people peering into their back yards from the sky.
Though balloon flights technically are regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration, that agency pays little attention to it because of larger concerns elsewhere.
"The FAA has two people in Utah who cover general, commercial aviations and balloons," said Ross. "I bet they don't spend much time on balloons."He said reaction from Park City's balloon community has been cordial.
"In other places when they got fed up with them they've just banned them . . . I think their fear here is that if they go unregulated any longer they might be banned."
"I don't think it's really right to be able to restrict the (time) length of flights," said Ted Hunsaker of Sunrise Ballooning and a balloon operator locally since the late 1970s. "Not having control of where the winds take us can cause difficulties."
But he said balloon operators are probably willing to acquiesce to some regulation.
"All of us are concerned because that's our livelihood. I'd like to see us work well with the community."
Balloon-piloting licenses are relatively easy to get, requiring far less training and flight time than airplane-pilot licenses.