By the beginning of next month, Aberdeen will have a law regulating drones.
City council members approved an ordinance this week that tells people where they can fly drones and what their boundaries are when in the air.
As long as drones are a mile from the airport, operators can fly them over their own property or someone else's if given permission. There are also four city-owned places where drones are allowed, one in each quadrant of the city.
Aberdeen City Council member Mark Remily voted against the ordinance.
"I think it's a solution to a problem we don't have so we're just creating a problem," Remily said.
Aberdeen City Attorney Ron Wager says he wants the city to get out ahead of the issue as more people get drones.
"It would be better to come in and kind of be clear of what you can and can't do at least within our city, so we can use it as a tool to educate the public," Wager said.
Part of the Aberdeen ordinance reinforces FAA regulations for recreational drones and further defines the city's position. For example, the FAA requires anyone flying a drone within a certain distance of an airport to get permission. That distance encompasses almost all of Aberdeen. Rather than the airport manager fielding a call every time someone wants to fly a drone, the ordinance lays out when the answer will be ‘yes’ or ‘no.’
The city also adds regulations in areas where the FAA has not. The Aberdeen law prohibits people from flying over their own property and looking through a neighbor’s window with a camera.
"You would arguably be in violation of the ordinance, and if that information were to get out, you'd be cited," Wager said.
Remily argues with FAA rules already in place, the city did not need to pass its own law. He says there are enough laws in the city that go unenforced, and he does not want to add to them.
"I don't think we'll be able to enforce this ordinance and why have an ordinance if you can't enforce it," Remily said.
"We know that most people are going to be safe, they're going to be good citizens,” Wager said. “But there's always those people that don't get it and those are the people we want to be educating now."
The only way the ordinance would not take effect is if enough people sign a petition to bring it to a public vote. Wager does not expect that to happen because he is not aware of any organized effort to collect signatures.