With a summer of major waterfront events on the horizon, the Norfolk Police Department is pushing for a new ordinance that would require permits for drone takeoffs and landings on some city-owned property, and ban them outright at other city-owned spaces. The proposal has drawn skepticism from local commercial drone pilots and even members of the city council, who question whether the ordinance will solve the problems it's aimed at.
Detective Bruce Pugh leads NPD's Unmanned Aircraft Systems Unit, which the department has run since 2018 and now has 24 FAA-certified pilots. Pugh told City Council during a May 12 work session that the growth of consumer drone technology has created a new problem at large public gatherings.
"Those blades, their propellers, can spin at the speed of sound,” he said. “They're really dangerous. They can damage property, they can damage people, they can cause lacerations."
Beyond safety, Pugh also raised broader concerns about weaponization potential, pointing to drone use in the conflict in Ukraine as an example of how the technology can be repurposed for harm. Deputy City Attorney Kristopher McClellan told council NPD has been working on this ordinance to address those risks for about a year. Now, they want to get something in place before the summer as events such as Sail250 and Harborfest approach.
The Federal Aviation Administration controls all domestic airspace, so the city of Norfolk cannot set rules on where pilots may fly drones. To get around this, the city is instead seeking to regulate how drones can take off and land on city-owned property.
McClellan said some properties would be subject to an outright ban, including city parking garages, neighborhood parks, smaller school sites and the Norfolk Zoo. Other properties, including larger parks, major school campuses and city beaches, would fall under a permit system.
McClellan told council the proposed ordinance includes two tiers of permits. Recreational hobbyists would pay a $10 application fee, and commercial operators flying for profit would pay $50. Both groups would pay on a per-event basis.
McClellan noted the proposal has already been reviewed and approved by the Virginia State Department of Aviation, making Norfolk only the second locality in the Commonwealth to pursue this kind of regulation, after the Town of Dumfries in Northern Virginia.
Launching or landing without a permit under NPD's proposal would be a Class 2 misdemeanor, carrying a potential penalty of up to six months in jail and fines up to $1,000.
Council members raised questions about the ordinance's scope, fees and potential overlap with federal law during the meeting.
Councilman Tommy Smigiel questioned the impact on local media organizations, noting that some Hampton Roads television stations now deploy drones instead of helicopters for event coverage, including high school football games. He also pushed for clarity on educational exemptions, citing local high school ROTC programs and the Aviation Institute of Maintenance, which trains drone technicians on city-adjacent properties. McClellan agreed to review the ordinance to determine whether private educational institutions could be included.
Councilmember Carlos Clanton, who flies his own drones at Norview Middle School, questioned whether school restrictions should depend on operation hours rather than be blanket rules.
He also opposed per-event fees, stating these add unnecessary layers of rules beyond federal requirements.
Mayor Kenny Alexander acknowledged the limits of the proposal, but he pushed for outright bans on certain spaces, arguing that crowded public areas where people gather should be strictly off-limits.
"I do believe that there are certain properties that should be just prohibited," Mayor Alexander said. "We should not even permit parks and schools."
Council members asked McClellan if it would be more appropriate to pay once for a six-month or annual general license rather than returning for a new permit every time drone pilots fly. McClellan said he would explore whether the state framework would allow that.
Glenn Bashaw, a Norfolk-based commercial photographer and FAA-licensed drone pilot, said the proposal would do little to stop the unlicensed hobbyists the city says it is most concerned about.
"The only people they're penalizing are people like me who fly legally," he said. "I'm going to follow the rules anyway. I don't understand why they're putting a huge burden on business."
Bashaw also pointed to a structural flaw at the center of the ordinance.
"I can take off from the sidewalk. They can't control the airspace. They can't stop me from flying over Town Point Park. The only thing they're causing me is the inconvenience of where I take off," he said.
Bashaw said a Class 2 misdemeanor penalty for launching from a city park without a permit feels less like a public safety measure and more like a financial punishment aimed at legitimate business owners.
He said colleagues in a regional drone operators group reacted similarly when the ordinance came up in conversation, with one out-of-state pilot saying the permit requirement would make him unwilling to take jobs in Norfolk at all.
The ordinance is currently in a state-mandated public notice period, which allows enough time for the city to post the proposed language on its website and social media channels ahead of the general council meeting.
If passed, the ordinance would take effect ahead of Harborfest and Sail250, both of which are expected to draw large crowds to Norfolk's waterfront this summer.
The Norfolk City Council is set to vote on the measure June 9.
