A construction tycoon’s use of a helicopter at his $4.5million vacation home has spawned a lawsuit and numerous neighbor complaints, it’s been revealed.
Doug Schieffer, the 50-year-old CEO of Northland Concrete and Masonry, has filed a lawsuit against the City of East Gull Lake in Minnesota – after they repeatedly said that the use of his helipad at the lush mansion was ‘unauthorized.’
Schieffer submitted building plans to have a private helipad on the waterfront home in 2020 – but the city snapped back, saying they don’t allow landing pads, or the authorization of takeoff and landing, within its boundaries.
Despite the push back, the brazen millionaire called the city’s rules ‘dumb’ and said that their anti-helipad code is not going to stop him – irrespective of the noise complaints from his neighbors.
After filing his suit, Schieffer, 50, argued that his neighbors’ lawnmowers and chainsaws make more noise that his six-seat Bell 206L4 aircraft – which was pictured flying off and on his property as evidence in the city’s counter to his suit.
‘At this point the opposition is all about spite,’ he told The Star Tribune, citing pushback from the lakeside town, that has a population less than 1,000.
The masonry mogul – who lives in Webster just a two hours’ drive away – explained that his insistence to keep flying is in part because he wants to be a good father to his kids.
‘There are times where it allows me to travel for work and with other entities that I am a part of,’ he explained. ‘And getting home for, say, kids sports, it’s important, and other health stuff within my family.’
Doug Schieffer, 50, is the CEO of Northland Concrete and Masonry. He’s in a legal fight with the City of East Gull Lake in Minnesota
A construction tycoon’s use of a helicopter at his vacation home in Minnesota has spawned a lawsuit and numerous neighbor complaints. Pictured, photos of the helicopter being used as evidence, ahead of a looming January court battle
‘[I’m] just trying to be the best dad I can be,’ he eventually concluded. ‘[A]nd be there as much as I can for my kids, but yet also be there for work.’
The suit – which has since elicited a response from the town with photos that show the businessman repeatedly landing the leather-interior craft in his home’s garden – is a saga more than four years in the making.
‘They told me to design and to build my place with hangar incorporated into it, and I did,’ Schieffer explained to Tribune, recalling how he first submitted plans to build a helipad.
‘Everyone’s got a right to make noise,’ he insisted. ‘That’s absolutely insanity.’ Responding to town officials’ insistence that he should not even be allowed to even store the aircraft on his property, he said, ‘They don’t have a leg to stand on. The burden of proof is on them.’
The city, meanwhile, maintains the helipad is a zoning violation. ‘They’ve had complaints from neighbors,’ Jason Kuboushek, the attorney representing the city, said.
‘They continue to get complaints from neighbors,’ he asserted. ‘Neighbors have attorneys that are complaining. The city just wants it to end.’
Schieffer, in response, defended his helicopter ‘passion’, telling the Twin Cities paper that ‘there’s [been] just too much opposition.’
He believes it’s a mere matter of semantics – one where city officials are supposedly splitting hairs over legal definitions and terminology surrounding the word ‘airport.’
‘The vast majority of my close neighbors don’t care, and there’s no harm to them,’ he said ahead of a looming courtroom showdown now slated for January.
‘At this point the opposition is all about spite,’ he told the Star Tribune, citing pushback from the lakeside town that has a population less than 1,000. Pictured, his leather-interior, six-seat Bell 206L4 illegally landing in his $4.5million home’s backyard
The masonry mogul – who lives in Webster just a two hours’ drive away – explained his reasons for flying further, saying it is important to him as a father. Pictured, the property, which is just a 2.5 hour’s drive from his family’s full-time home in Webster
‘We do work all throughout the Midwest with my company,’ he went on, adding how he owns ‘a portion of many companies’ but wasn’t willing ‘to disclose’ them
The hearing will be in Minnesota’s 9th judicial district, after the state’s federal court dismissed the matter in December of last year.
Within months, the Minnesota Department of Transportation issued a cease and desist order to Schieffer – one the city has said was ignored.
Photos included in their response show Schieffer’s helicopter airborne over the summer, more than two years after county commissioners put a stop to another bid from the seasonal, part-time resident, who filed a permit application in the summer of 2021, only to see it tabled as officials looked into the supposed opposition from neighbors.
In April 2022, Crow Wing County commissioners unanimously updated the ordinance to now longer allow private airplanes in the shoreland district, which was designed to account for seaplanes.
Schieffer’s quest to commute by air saw that right pulled, seemingly leaving him without a legal leg to stand on.
Numerous complaints of sound from the aircraft were recorded in 2023 – a total of nine, legal filings between the two parties show.
Filings further show Scheiffer admitting to several of the instances, while casting down on others.
Schieffer has sought to install a helipad on his property since 2000, drafting plans like these before seeing the bid quashed by both the state and county commissioners
The renewed effort comes after he seemingly built a helipad on the dock without permission, after county laws allowed landing strips for sea planes along the lake. That law has since been nixed
The city, meanwhile, maintains it received a renewed stream of complaints this past summer – when Scheiffer is typically seen in town. They also insist he is not legally allowed to store the helicopter on the property, seen here over the summer, since it is not an airport
Schieffer will no appear in court on January 8, where his argument will be heard for the final time. A judge will have three months to deliver a decision
The city, meanwhile, maintains it received a renewed stream of complaints this past summer – when Scheiffer is typically seen in town.
The hearing is scheduled January 8 before District Judge Jana Austad. She will have three months to deliver a judgment.
DailyMail.com has reached out to Scheiffer for comment. He did immediately provide a response.
