Marin air tour operation battles mounting state fines

A Marin County air tour business is facing hefty fines from a state commission charged with protecting San Francisco Bay.

“This is just the latest existential threat to a business that has existed here in Marin County since 1946,” said Aaron Singer, the owner of Seaplane and Aero Adventures in Mill Valley.

The San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission has fined the company more than $200,000 for alleged regulatory violations. Singer said most involve conditions that existed prior to his 2021 purchase of the two waterfront parcels along Richardson Bay from which the business operates.

The company has permits from the commission for one heliport landing pad, an 11-houseboat marina, a fuel storage tank, an office building and 17 parking spaces.

The commission says the business installed a second fuel tank and helipad, raised some asphalt walkways and built a new concrete and rebar water access ramp for its seaplane without its approval. The company is also being fined for failing to complete houseboat remodeling and relocation work prior to a permit expiring on August 31, 2021, and failing to provide public access improvements, including portions of public shoreline paths.

The commission also has ordered the business to submit a sea level rise and shoreline adaptation plan by the end of this year. The commission said the plan must be implemented within 12 months of its approval.

An enforcement hearing is scheduled for April 13.

“Seaplane is being hit with maximum penalties for alleged violations that were caused by past owners,” Singer said. “Some of the features at issue have been in place since the 1970s or even before, including the seaplane fueling dock that Seaplane is now being fined $30,000 over.”

A staff report prepared for a meeting of the commission’s enforcement committee in December responded to Singer’s assertion that he is not responsible for a majority of the violations alleged.

“Staff concedes that this is true,” the report says. “However, this fact is irrelevant.”

According to the report, the enforcement actions were “well under way” when Singer assumed ownership of the properties.

“Respondent was or should have been aware of the BCDC staff allegations and the actions necessary to resolve them,” the report states. “The property conditions and applicable regulatory obligations run with the land.”

Larry Goldzband, who was appointed as the commission’s new director in July, declined to discuss the dispute.

“Because this is an active enforcement case and Commission staff have attempted, and are still attempting, to resolve the matter voluntarily, BCDC won’t have any comment,” he said in an email.

Singer said that he repaired a seaplane ramp that was damaged during a winter storm last year rather than installing a new one. The commission’s staff report says this is a “quibble.”

“Staff does not concur that said actions constitute a reconstruction or routine repair,” the report states, “as that determination would have been made as part of a permit application, and none has been submitted.”

Singer said he consulted with a commission staff member who gave approval before the ramp repair. Singer said he did file an application, but he didn’t wait for its approval before doing the work.

“They’ve repeatedly asked for the ramp to be removed,” Singer said, “even though doing so would end the historic seaplane operations and bankrupt Seaplane.”

Singer has told the commission that such large fines will cripple the company’s ability to complete the remediation work that the commission has mandated. He estimated that the business lost $1 million in revenue because of a county-mandated shutdown in 2020 during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic.

The company sued the county over the shutdown, which lasted from July 3 to Aug. 31, 2020. U.S. District Judge William Alsup ruled against its claim that the county violated its right to equal protection under the law.

Alsup later ruled, however, that the county had lacked the authority to ban the business from transporting passengers to other locations — “whether intrastate or interstate and regardless of passengers’ reasons for traveling” — even though the county was well within its rights to prohibit recreational sightseeing during the pandemic.

But Alsup ruled that the company was not entitled to any damages. The business is in the process of appealing that decision.

In its suit, the company alleged that the county wanted to shut it down because its operations resulted in persistent noise complaints from neighbors.

In 2017, the Marin County Planning Commission held a four-hour hearing to consider limiting the business’ hours of operation and number of flights after Strawberry homeowners and other residents complained about noise from the planes. The Planning Commission decided against making any changes after Singer’s lawyer asserted that the county lacked jurisdiction.

Singer asserts that it was a series of letters and complaints from Strawberry resident Bill Schneider that resulted in the crackdown by the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission. Schneider was the neighborhood’s spokesperson during the 2017 hearing before the Planning Commission.

A complaint about the work on the plane ramp did immediately precede the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission issuance of a cease-and-desist order to Seaplane on March 14, 2022, according to John Edgcomb, an attorney representing the Richardson Bay Environmental Protection Association.

Schneider, however, denies having filed a complaint with the agency.