Seaplane tourism has been operating at Carillon Point for over a year without a permit — something the city of Kirkland will consider halting, but only after a formal complaint to the code enforcement department.

The city has been aware of the code violation since fall of 2015, and has been working with the seaplane company to apply for a permit. A public notice of the application wasn’t posted until May 31, and the planes — Seaplane Scenics, based in Renton — continue to fly.

Eric Shields, director of Kirkland Planning and Building Department, said the city would only issue a notice of violation “if we had reason to believe that there was a serious problem. Probably the issue most sensitive would be noise — noise for humans, and the wildlife sanctuary nearby.”

Seaplanes were a major topic of conversation at the Kirkland Alliance of Neighborhoods’ monthly meeting on June 8 in which Shields and city planner Christian Geitz were in attendance. At the meeting, Shields told attendees the city hadn’t received a complaint, which is why a notice hadn’t been issued.

A formal complaint was filed the very next day.

Should the city decide to be “aggressive” on the code violation, Shields said, the process could end in penalties as high as $100-$300 per day if Seaplane Scenics continues operation. City code has provisions for float planes at private and public marinas, but requires a Shoreline Conditional Use Permit.

“We have not taken a heavy hand on that so far,” Shields said. “I’d prefer not to do that.”

James Young, pilot and owner of Seaplane Scenics, initially applied to moor at Marina Park but was denied. Ellen Miller-Wolfe, Kirkland’s Economic Development Manager, confirmed Young was sent to Carillon Point by the city’s tourism program.

Shields said Tuesday he had no prior knowledge of the city’s involvement in the project.

Sue Gemmilll, property manager for Carillon Properties, initially declined an interview but reached out to the Reporter a week later. It was Gemmill who applied for the permit in Carillon Properties’ name.

“The city had brought [ Young] to us,” Gemmill said. “They weren’t able to get him operating out of Marina Park, so they referred him to us.”

The code violations came as a surprise.

“We had no idea,” Gemmill said. “We came to some basic parameters with [Young] and just started doing a few flights here and there.”

Carillon Properties checked in with the city, which is when the violation came to light.

As of November, Carillon Properties has been working with the city to secure the right permits for the operation, which consists of one plane making several flights per day. Per FAA regulations, the plane performs takeoffs and landings more than 1,000 feet from the shore, and Carillon Properties hadn’t heard negative comments about noise until recently.

Seaplane Scenics, with Carillon Properties’ go-ahead, will continue to operate throughout the permit application despite being in violation of code.

“At that point [in November] we had started and we had gone through in detail with city what we needed to do,” Gemmill said. “Basically, we agreed to continue to allow [the business] to operate as long as we went through process.”

Geitz, who will be reviewing the permit application for the city, said the code enforcement department operates on a complaint basis: if the city doesn’t get negative feedback, there’s no reason to proactively seek out enforcement cases.

Gemmill said the seaplane operation went the entirety of last summer without complaints, and that Carillon Properties, which manages a four-star hotel, is as concerned about noise as any of the nearby citizens.

“We do our due diligence,” she said. “We want to be good neighbors.”

When a public notice of Carillon Property’s seaplane application was posted along Lake Washington Boulevard, responses began to flood in — all negative.

Lori Isch, president of the Lakeview Neighborhood Association, said she didn’t learn about the permit application until she saw an email chain from disgruntled neighbors. Though she doesn’t spend much time in her yard, Isch said she “definitely notices” seaplane noise when she’s outdoors and voiced concerns for park-goers along the lake shore.

“There are concerns within this neighborhood for anyone within a block of the lake,” Isch said.

Isch said she felt the city didn’t “seem to want to notify or engage residents affected by new developments or permit issues.”

The planning department, taking public comment into account, will make a recommendation to the hearing examiner in the fall. Should the city recommend the operation be given a permit, the hearing examiner is likely to follow suit.

Ultimately, as the operation takes place on the surface of the lake, the Washington Department of Ecology makes the final determination.

Public comment is open until June 20, with a public hearing expected in September.