SUMTER COUNTY, Fla. — Don Wiley wears several hats in Sumter County. He’s a commissioner, an educator and – almost certainly – the county’s best-known drone pilot.
Wiley’s day job has him working with real estate agents and homeowners to film the many properties that are bought and sold in the rapidly growing county.
However, Wiley has gotten an increasing amount of attention for his hobby: running a YouTube channel that offers 30-minute tours over The Villages’ construction projects, including a voiceover full of analysis and commentary as each project progresses.
“I live here in The Villages… They’ve built a beautiful community,” Wiley said. “People want to know what’s happening, what’s coming and I’m just trying to fill that void.”
Wiley said he’s the right man for the job. He has a background in construction, can read planning documents and is willing to dig through public records to get the latest information. He said he never reports updates that aren’t public.
That didn’t stop The Villages’ attorney from sending him and other drone pilots a letter, ordering them to stop flying over the district’s construction sites. Wiley said it also demanded he take down his YouTube videos.
According to Wiley, the letter cited state law that prohibits “surveillance” over private property. However, the section of the law exempts property that can be seen from a public space on the ground, which would presumably include the wide-open construction lots adjacent to the roads he launches from.
He said the letter came days before The Villages’ newspaper launched a weekly column that reported construction updates.
“My opinion is they want to control the flow of information,” he said. “They want to they want to keep the wow factor.”
WFTV reached out to The Villages for comment, including clarification on its attorney’s view of the privacy law, and didn’t receive a response Tuesday.
As a drone instructor to other adults, Wiley said he’s confident he’s not breaking any statutes and is planning to consult with an attorney.
He vowed to keep publishing his YouTube videos.
“I have no intentions of stopping my work,” he said. “I’ve been editing all morning. Where this goes, that’s really up to them to make the decision.”
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