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Resident asks town to prohibit recreational drones; trustees say they lack authority over airspace
Summary
A resident letter asked the trustees to ban recreational drones over Green Mountain Falls. The board entered the letter into the record but noted law enforcement and FAA guidance that municipalities do not control airspace and cannot directly regulate drone operations.
The board read into the record a July 3 letter from resident Matt Cravana that described repeated disturbances from recreational drones over residential areas and urged the trustees to "pass an ordinance to stop this routine invasion" of privacy. The letter described noise, impacts on pets, and concern that operators frequently fly beyond line-of-sight because of the terrain.
Trustees discussed jurisdictional limits and law enforcement guidance. Mayor Ramey Dixon summarized law enforcement/FAA guidance: "We do not own the airspace. We cannot regulate it," and offered to draft a reply email to the correspondent explaining that local regulation of airspace is limited. Trustees also debated establishing a formal process for coordinated responses to written correspondence.
