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Council amends IQ zoning to allow drone operations and maintenance centers with conditions
Summary
The Richardson City Council amended the Collins Arapahoe TOD & Innovation District code to allow a defined "drone operations and maintenance center" by special permit in the employment subdistrict, and added a 300‑foot buffer from single‑family and multifamily residential zoning.
The Richardson City Council voted unanimously to amend the Collins Arapahoe TOD and Innovation District planned‑development code to add a definition and supplemental regulations for a drone operations and maintenance center (DOMC) as a special‑permit use in the employment subdistrict, adopting Ordinance No. 45‑37.
City planning staff explained the action is a code update to allow future applicants to request a special permit for facilities that would stage, store, maintain and support drone operations. Staff emphasized the amendment does not approve any specific operator or location; it only adds the use type, definitions and regulatory framework so future applications can be considered on a case‑by‑case basis.
The adopted supplemental regulations require a DOMC be located at least 300 feet from single‑family residential zoning and, at council direction, the ordinance was amended to include multifamily residential zoning in that 300‑foot buffer. The amendment also requires maintenance activities to occur within a building and limits equipment or structures associated with the DOMC to no more than 10 feet above the primary structure.
Staff noted that once a drone is airborne its operation and flight patterns are regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration, and the city does not have authority to regulate airborne operations or to impose FAA‑level insurance obligations. Council members discussed noise, flight patterns and size of aircraft; staff said those operational matters would be addressed in future special‑permit reviews and would fall under FAA jurisdiction for flight operations.
Mister Hutchenrider moved to approve zoning file 24‑33 and adopt Ordinance No. 45‑37 with the addition of multifamily residential to the 300‑foot buffer; the motion passed unanimously. The ordinance establishes the DOMC use and the supplemental regulations for future special‑permit applications in the employment subdistrict of the IQ PD.
