{"id":2888,"date":"2026-07-22T18:34:25","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T18:34:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=2888"},"modified":"2026-07-22T18:34:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T18:34:25","slug":"castle-rock-parker-say-no-to-delivery-drones-for-now-we-dont-want-to-be-the-test-case-for-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=2888","title":{"rendered":"Castle Rock, Parker say no to delivery drones \u2014 for now: \u2018We don\u2019t want to be the test case for it\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Castle Rock and Parker this week became the first communities in Colorado to forbid the use of delivery drones, enacting temporary bans on the fast-emerging segment of a retail world increasingly driven by speed and convenience.<\/p>\n

Read more The bagel\u2019s journey from Jewish immigrant food to American breakfast staple<\/a><\/p>\n

The Parker Town Council unanimously passed an emergency ordinance Monday that places a nine-month moratorium on the town accepting applications from retailers to establish drone dispatch and delivery facilities.<\/p>\n

About 24 hours later, the Castle Rock Town Council passed a similar ban. Castle Rock\u2019s timeout will last six months.<\/p>\n

Both towns recently received inquiries from Walmart and Wing about launching a drone operation to make deliveries for the retail behemoth, be it printer cartridges, a banana or a bottle of cold medicine. Wing, which is owned by the Google parent company Alphabet, operates delivery drones in several markets, including Houston, Dallas and Atlanta.<\/p>\n

Drone delivery has yet to take off in Colorado, though it is happening in several other states.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe town council thinks this is going to happen in the future and we don\u2019t want to be the test case for it,\u201d Castle Rock Mayor Jason Gray said Tuesday. \u201cA lot of people are asking how loud they are, how often they will fly and at what distance around town.\u201d<\/p>\n

A glimpse at answers to some of those questions came during Parker\u2019s Town Council meeting Monday night. Town planner Elizabeth Steward told the council that the drones proposed for the town would fly at heights between 150 feet and 400 feet, though they could drop down and hover around 40 feet above the ground when delivering or retrieving items.<\/p>\n

The loudest a drone would get when delivering merchandise, she said, would be 62.6 decibels, which sound experts say is equivalent to the volume of a normal conversation.<\/p>\n

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Councilwoman Brandi Wilks said she worries about how delivery drones might impact wildlife and whether they will conflict with drones the Parker Police Department regularly flies.<\/p>\n

Councilman Todd Hendreks said a pause was needed as the town tried to wrap its head around the technology and devise the most appropriate ways to deploy it. The move by both Douglas County towns this week echoed the go-slow approach some Colorado communities have taken recently with other emerging technologies, such as the development of artificial intelligence-driven data centers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith emerging technology, since we have really nothing to address this, I think it\u2019s important to give (town) staff time to review and come back to us with whatever they find,\u201d Hendreks said.<\/p>\n

Parker plans to hire a consultant to come up with rules for managing delivery drones in town.<\/p>\n

Read more Bear hit by car in Lone Tree neighborhood, city officials say<\/a><\/p>\n

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Ultimately, though, cities and towns in Colorado are limited in what they can control when it comes to drones.\u00a0That\u2019s because the Federal Aviation Administration has jurisdiction over airspace, aircraft operations, flight paths, altitude and in-flight noise, according to a Castle Rock memo on the topic.<\/p>\n

A municipality\u2019s regulatory authority is \u201cgenerally limited to the land use and site-related aspects of the operation, including where launch and landing infrastructure may be located,\u201d and how the site is designed, the memo says.<\/p>\n

Delivery drones in Castle Rock would have to compete with the town\u2019s drones-as-first-responder program, which it launched through its police department last summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe FAA will have ultimate control \u2014 we\u2019re hoping we have enough control that we can guide the process as well,\u201d said Gray, Castle Rock\u2019s mayor.<\/p>\n

According to Fortune Business Insights, the drone delivery business is poised for robust growth as consumers who shop by smartphone \u2014 and from their couches \u2014 become hungrier for faster delivery times. The forecasting firm projects that the global industry will grow from just over $5 billion this year to nearly $21 billion in 2034.<\/p>\n

The firm said North America \u201cdominated the drone package delivery market with a market share of 35.47% in 2025.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gray said it\u2019s one thing when it\u2019s just Walmart flying merchandise to people\u2019s front steps in Castle Rock. But if drones prove popular with consumers, others are sure to get in on the action.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we have 18 different retailers doing delivery by drone, I don\u2019t know what that\u2019s going to look like,\u201d he said. \u201cIf drones were flying by your house 15 to 25 times a day, my citizens might not like it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In May, Walmart celebrated its 1 millionth drone delivery, boasting that it is operating the service across 66 stores in four states. Its fastest delivery time so far is 4 minutes and 44 seconds, though the average delivery time for an order is 23 minutes. <\/p>\n

Parker Councilwoman Anne Barrington conceded that while the latest wave in shopping convenience is fraught with uncertainty, she has no doubt that it\u2019s coming \u2014 and Parker better be ready.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not saying no \u2014 we\u2019re just saying no today,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Get more Colorado news by signing up for our daily Your Morning Dozen email newsletter.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read more Motorcyclist killed in wrong-way Commerce City crash, police say<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Castle Rock and Parker this week became Colorado’s first municipalities to temporarily ban drone delivery operations by retailers like Wing or Walmart while they figure out local regulations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2887,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nCastle Rock, Parker say no to delivery drones \u2014 for now: \u2018We don\u2019t want to be the test case for it\u2019 - Colorado Springs Moverss<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=2888\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Castle Rock, Parker say no to delivery drones \u2014 for now: \u2018We don\u2019t want to be the test case for it\u2019 - 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