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PARK CITY — Despite a police order barring helicopter rides to and from the Sundance Film Festival, Uber plans to continue its service, a company spokesman said Friday night.
The Summit County Sheriff's Office issued a cease and desist order Friday afternoon against transportation companies Uber and Blade for allegedly giving unauthorized helicopter rides.
"Future landings may result in the arrest of the pilot, and the aircraft will be subject to impound," Summit County Sheriff Justin Martinez said in a statement.
Uber spokeswoman Taylor Patterson confirmed late Friday that the company planned to go ahead with the rides despite the order.
"UberCHOPPER will continue flying (Saturday), weather permitting," Patterson said.
Blade officials declined to comment for this story.
Earlier in the week, Uber and Blade began offering rides from Salt Lake City International Airport to the film festival in Park City, a one-way trip of about 40 miles. Uber representatives said the company is charging $200 one way during the day and $300 at night.
County attorneys also requested a temporary restraining order Friday to prohibit helicopter rides provided by Uber and Blade during the prestigious festival. But 3rd District Judge Kara Petit declined to make a decision on the issue Friday, wanting first to hear more information from both sides Monday.
The cease and desist order from police, which went into effect at 3 p.m. Friday, remains valid despite Petit's decision to put off a final ruling on the restraining order, according to Martinez. The sheriff said the proposed restraining order was a civil action, meaning his directive, which concerns the criminal code, isn't affected.
"The fact that a judge did not issue a ruling on either side doesn't (mean) they have the right to now go and violate (the cease and desist order)," Martinez said. "My order's still in place."
Martinez said he hopes his agency won't need to arrest violators or impound helicopters.
"Ultimately, I want to resolve this as peacefully as possible, and my hope is that they'll still honor what I have put into place and we won't have to go down that road," he said.
The property the helicopters use as a landing pad doesn't have a land-use permit for the activity, which means the flights violate Summit County code, Martinez and county attorneys said.
Summit County's request for a temporary restraining order is against the lessees of the two landing properties being used in Snyderville basin. The county asked in its written request that the property be barred from "engaging in helicopter services." The request claims the "the county would suffer irreparable harm by allowing a violation which would eviscerate the health, safety and general welfare of county residents."
@SummitCountySO says @Uber and Blade helicopter is to cease and desist services in Summit County #Uber#parkcity#Sundance2016@KSL5TV
— Ashley Moser (@AshleyMoser) January 22, 2016
Weather permitting, continuing our #UberCHOPPER operations this weekend! Pre-booking is closed, on-demand is live 12:30PM - 8:30PM.
— Uber Utah (@Uber_UT) January 23, 2016
At the restraining order hearing Friday afternoon, the county argued that a public hearing would have been required to implement approved helipads and that nobody approached them for such permission.
The property lessees' attorneys countered, saying that the landing of the helicopters on the properties is a use issue and not a development issue, meaning the action doesn't violate county code. They also said that the county named the wrong parties in the lawsuit by going after lessees on the properties rather than the landowners.
Summit County Attorney Robert Hillder argued that the function of property — in this case acting as a landing spot for helicopters — ought to be the root issue and should apply to both owners and lessees on any piece of land. He later told reporters that the ownership situation at both of the landing sites is complex.
Hilder said the county has received complaints "in the hundreds" from residents who are frustrated with the noise and worried about safety hazards associated with heavy air traffic.
"We care about how it's regulated in the county long term. We don't want people coming in thinking they can change a use without going through a process," Hilder said. "It doesn't feel safe to our residents to have so many helicopters flying."
In the morning, Patterson issued a statement announcing Uber had come to an agreement with the sheriff's office to use the agency's helipad for Uber flights instead of the original location.
"Thanks to the county's proactive outreach, we have developed an alternative landing site for uberCHOPPER that serves riders and accommodates residents," Patterson said.
Later, the company indicated it was caught by surprise by the sheriff office's cease and desist order. According to Uber, Martinez and two other county officials met with the company Thursday night and agreed that landing at the sheriff's helipad would be an acceptable solution.
Uber claims its helicopter landed at the sheriff's helipad Friday morning in a test run and that county employees had directed the pilot on how to do so safely.
Hilder said in court that Summit County officials at first had tried to accommodate the helicopter issue, despite not being made aware of it in advance, but ultimately decided that they couldn't overlook a violation of county code.
Contributing: The Associated Press, Marc Giauque, Dave Cawley, Ashley Moser
