Colorado City Tests FAA Authority With Sweeping Drone Restrictions

Municipal leaders in Wheat Ridge, Colorado, have initiated plans to restrict unmanned aircraft flights over public rights-of-way and private land, placing the municipality at the center of an ongoing legal debate over low-altitude airspace sovereignty.

Operators would need written permission from the city manager before flying a drone over or on city property under a draft ordinance reviewed during a study session reported by Colorado Politics. The policy covers public streets, alleys, parks, playgrounds, open spaces, parking facilities, and government buildings.

Flying above private parcels without property owner consent would also be prohibited, alongside operations deemed reckless or careless. The measure would further grant Police Chief Chris Murtha the power to ground all local drone operations during specific public safety incidents.

Murtha asked council members to explicitly exempt municipal police and fire crews from the requirement to obtain administrative permits prior to launching flights. Councilmember Rachel Hultin suggested establishing designated zones such as Creekside Park where hobbyists could operate freely, pointing to an incident in which an unidentified drone hovered outside her office window for roughly three minutes.

A federal judge in 2017 invalidated core provisions of an ordinance in Newton, Massachusetts, that prohibited flights below 400 feet over public and private real estate without prior authorization. The ruling held that the restriction intruded into federally governed airspace and triggered federal preemption. That precedent frames the tension between Wheat Ridge’s draft and federal aviation statutes, which reserve regulatory control over safety and flight paths to the FAA while limiting local authority to ground operations such as takeoffs and landings on city-owned property.

Telluride already requires local permits for operations over streets and civic facilities. The regulatory push comes as companies accelerate automated logistics. Amazon is expanding its Prime Air delivery service toward an intended footprint of nearly 500 communities by late 2026 under proposed FAA beyond-visual-line-of-sight frameworks.

Wheat Ridge City Attorney Gerald Dahl confirmed that the draft will undergo revisions before any formal introduction, with no immediate date set for a final council vote.