The Kirkwood City Council is the latest to weigh permitting a Walmart drone delivery hub. It's on the agenda for Thursday.
But because the F.A.A. maintains exclusive control over the airspace, the city can only regulate the ground facility — a fact that worries some residents.
One resident says, "If you allow the special use permit the council is on a slippery slope regarding citizen complaints on which your only response can be 'this is out of our hands'."
Turning the launchpad away entirely, however, might just push the problem to a neighboring town while keeping the drones overhead.
Wing's aircraft have a six-mile delivery radius, as noted by councilman Paul Schaefer.
"I think this is cool. It's the way to the future. I have some concerns and issues with it but if we, if we can control it I'm all for it otherwise you're going to go over to Ellisville or wherever else."
The proposed Kirkwood pad would house 18 drones capable of flying up to 55 miles per hour.
Wing's Manager of Local Policy, Catherine Lovett says, "People order everything from rotisserie chickens from Walmart - you get home, you're tired, you don't want to cook, you can get a nice hot chicken delivered to your home in about 5 to 15 minutes. We're heading into cold and flu season and so, as you know, when you're not feeling well you don't want to drive to the store. And so rather than having to do that - just you know, 10-15 minutes one way - we can get you that medicine to your front door in half of the time it would take you to drive to the store, go in the store, get your items, check out and then drive back home."
But residents living nearby aren't buying the convenience if it costs them peace and quiet.
Wing claims the drones hit about 62 decibels when hovering to drop a package, but resident Janet Ward Graves told the council she's been researching the rollout in other states. "They were told it was like a van going by or whatever and it was more like a leaf blower flying over their home or that sort of thing and that the traffic turned into a continuous thing."
