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Targeting one annoying user, St. Louis passes commercial drone restriction applicable to all

In another example of isolated obnoxious drone operation producing regressive rules for all users, St. Louis is finalizing an ordinance requiring anyone flying UAVs for commercial purposes to obtain a specific city authorization, in addition to having a Federal Aviation Administration Part 107 license

On Friday, the St. Louis Board of Aldermen unanimously passed the amendment to the city’s code in response to a company’s effort to impose drone overflight surveillance on the Gravois Park neighborhood, despite objections from most residents. As DroneDJ reported in January, startup SMS Novel has been inflaming tempers of inhabitants and officials by pursuing its controversial UAV monitoring of the area as a crime-fighting service. 

With SMS Novel owner Jomo Johnson unwilling to simply drop the idea in the face of broad-based protest, the St. Louis municipal government decided to take an increasingly common approach to exceptional but recurring cases of drone disturbance: it passed a restriction designed to halt the specific offense, but which is applicable to all users nonetheless.

In doing so, Board Bill Number 199 amends the St. Louis Code of Ordinances “to regulate the commercial use of drones and impose community-based safety regulations and restrictions on the operation of drones and other UAS.” The text is careful to not to violate legal technicalities that SMS Novel might otherwise attack, noting the city’s stricture does not “preempt federal aviation rules or state law; including a severability clause and emergency clause.” 

Meaning, unless the FAA makes the exceptionally rare decision of wading into a local conflict, anybody wanting to fly a drone commercially in St. Louis will need to get municipal approval, then obey federal operating rules as required by their Part 107 license. Exceptions are to be made for media and public service operators.

According to the local NPR affiliate, the unanimously adopted ordinance will also prohibit “(f)lights within 25 feet of a person without their permission, or near large public events and public buildings.” Such was the united hostility to SMS Novel – and Johnson’s defiance in pushing his business plans even harder as it generated hostility – that St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones’ office said she is actually looking forward to signing it into law.

SMS Novel, which says it has launched the drone streaming services for subscribing clients in a few US cities, describes itself as “faith-based” company providing “on-demand drone service for security, events, or creativity.” Johnson has reportedly said the startup will sue St. Louis if Jones signs the ordinance.

Johnson had threatened the city with legal action previously, though that hasn’t changed the outcome of the Gravois Park clash, which has thus far been limited to several rather provocative flights. Still, his isolated push to fly drones in a way that provoked the sharp and lasting ire of residents and St. Louis officials has produced another whack-a-mole restriction that will mostly affect countless discreet and uncontroversial operators from now on. 

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Author

Avatar for Bruce Crumley Bruce Crumley

Bruce Crumley is journalist and writer who has worked for Fortune, Sports Illustrated, the New York Times, The Guardian, AFP, and was Paris correspondent and bureau chief for Time magazine specializing in political and terrorism reporting. He splits his time between Paris and Biarritz, and is the author of novel Maika‘i Stink Eye.

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