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Committee approves public hearing on drone-based parking study
Summary
The Grand Rapids Public Safety Committee voted to set a public hearing on Mobile GR’s proposal to use drones for a downtown parking inventory; members raised privacy, archiving and airspace concerns and were told imagery will be still photos, collected at about 300–400 feet and delivered as anonymized heat maps.
The Grand Rapids Public Safety Committee voted to set a public hearing on a proposal from Mobile GR to use small unmanned aerial systems (drones) to collect overhead imagery for a downtown parking investment study.
Mobile GR Director Jessica Smith told the committee the department is asking the body to approve scheduling a public hearing so the city commission can hear community comment before any purchase or deployment. “Our purpose today, we are seeking that resolution from you all to set a public hearing on this particular technology use for data collection,” Smith said.
The request would initiate a multi-step process: the committee votes to set a public hearing; the city commission would accept public feedback; and, if the commission supports the project, the matter would next go to the fiscal committee for approval of the purchase funding before vendor work begins. Brandon Davis of the Office of Oversight and Public Accountability (OPA) summarized the surveillance policy that governs such acquisitions, identifying it as administrative policy 15-03.
Mobile GR…
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