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Local pilots ask Oakley council for seasonal windsock to improve landing safety; council opens fact-finding
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Summary
Kendall Card, a resident and representative of local paraglider pilots, asked Oakley City Council for permission to install a seasonal windsock on city land for pilot safety and for visiting recreational users; the council treated the request as fact-finding and asked staff and the city attorney to follow up on liability, signage and insurance details.
Kendall Card, a local resident who said he represents area paragliding pilots and the Utah Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, asked the Oakley City Council for permission to install a seasonal windsock at the Oakley launch site to give pilots and other recreation users a clear, on-site indicator of wind direction.
Card told the council the windsock would be installed in March and removed in November, would cost roughly $50–$100 including the pole, and would be used only for safety: "What our request is is very simple ... we want to establish a semi-permanent windsock that we could put up in the same March and take down in in November," he said. He said pilots using the site can reach altitudes near 10,000 feet on favorable days and that predictable landing signage can reduce injury risk.
City Attorney Lisa Baskin raised legal and liability questions, noting that signage placed by the city would likely require city maintenance and that municipalities are often named as defendants in injury cases. "Typically, cities are seen as a deep pocket," Baskin said, citing lessons learned from similar litigation in other municipalities and urging council members to review insurance and indemnity details before authorizing any city-installed signs or implied endorsement. Baskin also asked whether the pilot association would provide secondary liability coverage and whether third-party indemnity agreements would be available; Card said he did not have the chapter’s coverage limits on hand but said the association had previously placed some official sites under chapter insurance.
Council members thanked Card for coming forward and described the discussion as fact-finding. Mayor said the item was not before council for action tonight: "We don't have this on the agenda as an action item tonight. This is more fact finding," and staff were asked to return to the council with more information. Council members asked staff to check insurance limits, possible indemnity language, and whether the Forest Service’s separate windsock at the launch might be coordinated with city action.
Card emphasized that the pilots were not seeking to commercialize the site or ask the city to staff or supervise activity, saying the request was limited to an unobtrusive safety device and offered to install and remove it each season. The council did not vote on the request and directed staff and the city attorney to follow up with options and legal implications.