Memo
TO: Mayor Collins and Town Council Members
FROM: Kevin Burke, Town Manager
Andrew M. Miller, Town Attorney
DATE: October 1, 2015
DEPARTMENT: Town Attorney
Staff Contact
Andrew M. Miller, Town Attorney, 480-348-3691
End
AGENDA TITLE:
Title
Drone Ordinance for Consideration and Comment
Body
Council Goals
SUMMARY STATEMENT:
Staff would like Council to review and provide comments on the attached draft drone ordinance. After some citizen complaints, and at the request of the Mayor, staff drafted an ordinance to address the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (“UAVs”), also known as drones. This ordinance would be added as Article 10-12 to the Town Code. A first review of an initial draft ordinance occurred at the Council’s May 28, 2015 work study meeting with comments received by staff from the Council Members and with some residents and UAV users asking to meet with the staff to provide their input. Staff did meet with some of these UAV users in the past few months, with some of their input leading to the changes to the draft ordinance, as well as from local legal experts in the UAV community.
Although the Federal Aviation Administration is still in the process of promulgating regulations concerning UAVs, staff’s previous research has shown that although only a few other municipalities have adopted UAV regulations to address issues of privacy and safety many more are interested in adopting regulations. It is staff’s hope that the regulations in the attached ordinance will be seen as supplementing some of the regulations that will eventually be promulgated by the FAA. Although the FAA has a primary concern with avoiding conflicts between UAVs and other forms of regulated flight, the Town’s concerns are centered more on local safety and privacy concerns.
The draft ordinance attempts to balance the competing interests of residents who are concerned about the potential safety and privacy issues connected with safe and appropriate use of UAV technology, and the expected increase in use of UAVs for both personal recreational use and for certain commercial applications. In this vein, once the commercial UAV community was made aware of the desire of the Town staff and Police Department to be able to have knowledge in advance of a planned commercial UAV flight, the UAV commercial group suggested that an online notification system would be much simpler and less costly than the issuance of a single event limited use permit for each planned commercial UAV use.
One of the significant changes from the prior draft ordinance has been to move from a permit process to having a one-time registration by each commercial UAV user with the PVPD and an online notification system for each planned UAV use. The notification system could be in a shared publicly accessible format, such as a link on the Town’s website, so that neighboring property owners who may see an UAV near their property and have concerns or questions about the intent of the UAV user can either quickly check on the proposed use; or if unaware of the registry, the PD Dispatch will can check the registry. The online registry should contain information on the commercial UAV user, the general purpose of the commercial use, the time of such use, and who to contact if they have any questions. This would appear to be an open and easy system to use for tracking and monitoring UAV use within the Town.
Another significant change to the draft ordinance was to require the consent of the private property owner before a UAV user could fly over the private property, and lacking such consent, this type of UAV us would be considered a form of trespass and a violation of Town Code. This suggestion also came from some of the commercial UAV users, who have stated that they do not need to fly over neighboring properties to do their commercial aerial photography, mapping, etc. The new draft ordinance makes an allowance for those times though when a commercial UAV user would need to fly out over the public right-of-way, subjecting such a request to the special event permit process that already exists for other private requests to have a temporary use of the Town right-of-way.
The attached draft ordinance contains the following basic provisions:
• An UAV shall not be used within the Town on private property at a level between zero feet and five hundred feet above ground level without the express permission of the property owner.
• An UAV shall not be used within the Town over public property without first obtaining a Special Event Permit pursuant to Section 8-8-3 of the Town Code.
• Commercial use of UAV is not allowed unless the above-referenced criteria is met in addition to (1) registering with PVPD; (2) providing identifying information for the particular UAVs to be used; and (3) proper notification to PVPD as to date, time, location, contact info of the commercial user, etc.
• Recreational UAV use on one’s own property is allowed as long as such use is at a height of less than 500’ and is not in violation of other criteria referenced below.
• UAV use is allowed by a “law enforcement agency” (broadly defined in the ordinance) in response to an emergency situation or after obtaining a warrant based upon probable cause that criminal activity is occurring.
• An UAV shall not be used in a careless or reckless manner that poses an apparent or actual threat of harm, or actual harm to persons or property.
• An UAV shall not be used to transmit any visual image or audio recordings of any person or property where there is a reasonable expectation of privacy.
• Penalties for violation shall be a Class 1 Misdemeanor or punishable under the provisions of Article 1-9 of the Town Code (which suggests that initial violations be charged as a civil violation with a progression to a criminal charge in the event of repeat offenses).
Although only a few cities have adopted drone regulations, but very few are as comprehensive as the current draft ordinance. The City of Phoenix Public Safety Subcommittee is currently discussing a draft “Unmanned Aircraft Vehicles/System (Drones) Privacy Protection Ordinance” (see attached). The “Phoenix Draft” centers on 3 main prohibitions: 1) intentional or surreptitious filming or recording; 2) appropriating the commercial value of a person’s identity, and weaponizing a drone. The Phoenix Draft also contains a fairly long list of exceptions and non-applicability, some of which might be worth incorporating into the PV draft ordinance, particularly for journalists or the news media, which may likely start incorporating the use of drones as an inexpensive alternative to the use of helicopters for certain news events.
Council input on the revised draft ordinance is desired by Town staff. If it appears that the current draft ordinance is acceptable to the Town Council, this ordinance may be placed on a future Council action agenda for adoption.
Recommendation:
Staff recommends Council discuss the draft drone ordinance at its October 8, 2015 Council meeting and provide direction on any changes needed to the draft ordinance and whether it is ready for approval at a future Council meeting.
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ATTACHMENT(S) - Draft Drone Ordinance for Consideration |
Draft Drone Ordinance
City of Phoenix Draft Ordinance