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Council discusses requiring CUPs for drone delivery hubs at Walmart, seeks resident demos
Summary
Council members and residents pressed for conditional-use permits, stricter setbacks and a community demonstration before approving a drone delivery hub at the Highland Village Walmart; company representatives offered to host resident workshops and said the proposed nesting site sits about 285 feet from the nearest residential property line.
Highland Village council members spent the early work session debating a proposed zoning text amendment to regulate drone delivery hubs and staging areas, focusing on whether every hub should require a conditional use permit (CUP) and how to protect nearby homes.
Kevin, the city's counsel, said the red-line draft circulated to council would require CUPs for the installations, noting that "the council seemed to be pretty much in a consensus that, for these facilities going forward, that every single one of them would require conditional use permit." He described edits to conform the ordinance language to that approach and to bring ground-mounted loading equipment within the city's regulatory reach.
Council members and several residents urged additional safeguards. One council member who reviewed ordinances in other North Texas cities summarized the comparators and urged stricter protections: "So that's my ask is to look at conforming with the setback and setting hard operating hours." Residents asked for on-site visuals and public workshops before final action, warning about repeated noise and quality-of-life impacts.
Representatives for the applicant said they were willing to work with the city on resident outreach. A Walmart representative said the company was prepared to host an information session and demo: "We would love to have a workshop with nearby residents." A company operations representative also said the currently proposed nest location "is 285 feet from, the nearest residential property line." Company staff described decibel targets below 60 dB at 100 feet and said newer drone designs have quieter sound profiles.
Council did not vote; staff and counsel were directed to retain the red-line draft for now and to schedule additional resident engagement and demonstrations before the item returns to the agenda. The council emphasized that the CUP process (public notice within 200 feet, planning-and-zoning and council public hearings and two ordinance readings) would remain the vehicle for site-specific decisions.
What comes next: staff will coordinate community demonstrations and resident engagement with the applicant, then return the ordinance and any recommended operating-hours or setback figures for formal consideration and a public hearing.
