What you need to know
Wing representatives sought approval of a site plan that would allow the company to house 18 drones at a Walmart location at 3060 Justin Road. Wing has partnered with Walmart at about 50 locations to provide done deliveries, Wing representative Josh Bucci said.
The site plan includes a drone staging area, separated from where the drones are stored, within 250 feet of a residential community, in violation of the proposed ordinance change, which requires drone delivery hubs and staging areas to be zoned more than 250 away from residential areas.
“My concern is, that is closer than 250 feet, there’s a retaining wall, and at 25 feet you’re probably right there at their house level,” council member Rhonda Hurst said.
What else
The language of the ordinance amendment allows drone delivery hubs for any business zoned for retail, including grocery and restaurants, to set up and run a drone delivery hub, council member Robert Fiester said.
“Walmart is the primary applicant asking for this, but we’re opening this to any property that’s zoned retail,” Fiester said. “Sam’s, Costco, Home Goods, Delhi 6, Goody Goody [Liquor]. Every restaurant in the shops, and all they’re going to have to comply with is be 250 feet away from residential zoning.”
The amendment also does not include a limit on the number of delivery hubs or have any spacing requirements between each hub, City Attorney Kevin Laughlin said.
Council directed city staff to redraft the ordinance to exclude restaurants and explore requiring a specific use or conditional use permit.
Looking ahead
Council will discuss the amendment at the next work session and plan to revisit the amendment at the February council meeting.
