Mark Futch has
been picking up island passengers in his seaplane for more than two
decades, and was “taken aback” Thursday when he received his first fine.
After
hearing the case for an hour, including arguments and questioning from
Futch’s attorneys, the Code Enforcement Board ordered Futch to pay $400
for taking off within the corporate limits of town.
Lead Code
Enforcement Officer Rob Walton said he saw Futch’s plane taxiing east of
Everglades Island toward 336 El Vedado Road on Feb. 22. He said Futch
picked up a passenger, and luggage and taxied his plane to the open
waters of the Intracoastal Waterway. “I did not witness the plane take
off.”
But, a gardener at the El Vedado Road estate, said he did witness Futch take off. What was unclear, was where Futch took off.
Walton
said the corporate limits of town go to the middle of the Intracoastal
Waterway channel. There are no “town limit” markers in the water, but
“the channel markers would mark the edge of town,” he said.
Norman
Cannella, Futch’s attorney, said his client shouldn’t be fined because
no one could say for sure where Futch was when he took off.
“We
don’t know whether the airplane was ever in city limits when it was
taking off,” he said. “Any seaplane pilot that decides to fly around the
area that encompasses Palm Beach has no idea of where those limits
lie.”
Futch did say he took off in the channel because of
“operational procedures,” but wasn’t sure if he was in “the confines of
town limits.”
Futch said he runs the oldest-continuing operating
seaplane business in Florida, which he started in 1987, with many of his
customers from Palm Beach.
The board ordered him to pay $150 in administrative costs and a $250 fine.
“I
voted the way I did because it’s not up to us to decide whether it’s
marked correctly or not,” said member Alan Golboro. “We’re dealing in
the law and this survey shows our town line goes to mid-channel and the
channel is within our corporate limits.”
Source: http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com
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