REDINGTON SHORES, Fla. — It’s a bird. It’s a plane…it’s a power paraglide? They’ve likely caught your attention at the beach: A person wearing a motor on their back gliding through the air using a paraglide wing…but soon, they could be banned from one Pinellas County beach.
Town commissioners in Redington Shores said they’ve recently received complaints from residents about the powered paraglides, also known as paramotors. Some find them noisy, and others worry the power paraglides could be scaring off black skimmers, a protected nesting shorebird.
Yet, the paramotor pilots argue they have a right to enjoy the beach, too, and they do everything they can to be respectful to beachgoers and those who live on the beach. The power paraglide pilots hope the town of Redington Shores will consider alternatives like regulating where they can take off, how far they must be from the shore, and the elevation the vehicles should be flown at.
Right now, leaders in Redington Shores are putting together a new ordinance that could ban power paragliding at the beach year-round.
Power paragliders wear a backpack propeller motor that allows them to take off right from the ground and sail along the coast.
Town commissioner Jennie Blackburn said she brought the proposed changes to the town council after receiving complaints from residents about the noise the paraglide motors make (especially at sunset when they’re most often flown) and concerns about black skimmers, which are easily startled and nest on the sandy shore in a colony of more than 200 birds.
“One of the concerns is people’s entitlement to their peace and quiet enjoyment of their residence or the area they're visiting,” Blackburn said. “Last year, we had a man with a drone. He was out here with the drone and he did flush some of the birds which had already laid their nests, so the babies scattered, and they got attacked and killed by some of the other adult birds.”
Blackburn said she enjoys seeing the paragliders but also understands the concern of residents. “It’s tough. We’re in a tough position as a commission because there’s so many different interests that we have to look out for. It is the greatest watching them is really, really fun but they do create noise," she elaborated.
Yet, paragliders like Tim Vandivier said they hope the town can instead reach a compromise, adding that there are very few paramotor pilots in Pinellas County who operate the devices.
“It‘s a safe environment for us to fly. Some of the other launch sites in the area are more dangerous for us, so it would be a shame if we had to go," Vandivier added.
Vandivier said the power paraglides do make noise but they try to operate them a short distance offshore to mitigate the sound. “It’s like a buzzing, a slow buzzing noise, but obviously, we’re not staying in one place. We’re passing by. The only time it’s a little noisy is when you are launching it and you’re at full throttle and that’s probably 20 seconds of noise. If the amount of noise we are making out over the water is disturbing the birds, then I am sympathetic to the birds and I want to fix that problem," he elaborated.
Vandivier and his paramotor pilot colleagues said they would be willing to fly at a higher altitude, further from the shore, or alter where they take off and land the vehicles opposed to an outright ban.
Some beach communities have previously banned motorized paragliding. Treasure Island banned it a few years ago. In Clearwater and unincorporated Pinellas County, paragliders need to obtain a special permit to take off.
Redington Shores will discuss the proposed ban on June 28 at 2 p.m.
