[Massplanners] Drone regulations, RE: Planning and Conservation

Thu Sep 7 11:16:39 EDT 2023

Good morning John and MassPlanners,

This is Shawn Bailey from the Old Colony Planning Council. OCPC reached out to Larry Harman, Co-Director of the GeoGraphics Laboratory at Bridgewater State University, on this matter and he provided us with the following resources that will help answer your questions:

  1.  "Updated Fact Sheet (2023) on State and Local Regulation of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), A "Dear Colleague" Letter by the General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Transportation, dated July 14, 2023.  Page seven of this eight page letter addresses "enforcement matters."

      https://www.transportation.gov/mission/administrations/office-general-counsel/updated-fact-sheet-2023-state-and-local-regulation

  1.  Jay Stanleym, "Eye-in-the-Sky Policing Needs Strict Limits," American Civil Liberties Union, dated July 27, 2023.  A 10-page paper with the sub-title : "We're on the cusp of an explosion in law enforcement use of drones. Is America ready?",  This is a well written piece that is timely and well developed around concerns raised by the police use of drones, particularly autonomous drones.  This is an area of interest for us at the lab, balancing the good that drones can do for transportation with concerns for personal privacy.

      https://www.aclu.org/documents/eye-in-the-sky-policing-needs-strict-limits#:~:text=In%20this%20paper%2C%20ACLU's%20Jay,using%20drones%20for%20this%20purpose

Thank you very much!

Shawn Bailey

Senior Transportation Planner

Direct: (774) 539-5124 | Email: sbailey at ocpcrpa.org

Old Colony Planning Council

70 School Street, Brockton, MA 02301 | fax (508) 559-8768

Visit our website at www.oldcolonyplanning.org<http://www.oldcolonyplanning.org/>

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________________________________
From: MassPlanners <massplanners-bounces at masscptc.org> on behalf of John Fay Jr via MassPlanners <massplanners at masscptc.org>
Sent: Wednesday, September 6, 2023 12:08 PM
To: massplanners at masscptc.org <massplanners at masscptc.org>
Subject: [Massplanners] Drone regulations, RE: Planning and Conservation

Hello planners,

Our city is looking to get more serious about enforcement activities, and I am looking for case law [or other sufficient legal rationales] regarding the use of drones in both planning-related activities which rarely result in some sort of enforcement, but also for Conservation and possible differentiation between regular inspections of waterways vs. being called out to an explicit address/infraction.

Thus far I've found a "State and Local Regulation of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Fact Sheet", created in 2015 by the FAA, so I am unsure of its currentness. Likewise, I found a Fordham Law Journal piece about Warrantless Operations of Public Use Drones, though it is similarly out of date by 5+ years.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

John Fay (He/Him)

Senior Planner

City of Brockton

Dept. of Planning and Economic Development

45 School Street

Brockton, MA 02301

[508] 580-7113

Book time with me<https://doodle.com/bp/johnfay/book-time-with-john>

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