If you’re planning to spend time wandering the sprawling beaches or boardwalk of Wildwood this summer, one of the things you’re not likely to see is a recreational drone hovering overhead.
A measure under consideration by the city government this month will make sure.
The new ordinance would require anyone flying a drone over city property to apply for permission with the police department between May to October. The law would apply to commercial or recreational use.
The need for the measure was cited in an ordinance scheduled for a final approval vote later this month.
“As a result of declining cost, the increased use of drone technology and unmanned aircraft have become increasingly available to personal, recreational and other potential uses,” the ordinance said. “Drones and unmanned aircraft can be used to fly above City-owned property in a way that is inherently dangerous.”
Local officials said they were acting out of an abundance of caution.
“We’re just trying to formalize just who were flying drones and when they are flying drones so that public safety is aware of it and they can monitor it as need be,” Alicia Deluca, Wildwood’s director of special events and recreation said this week. “We have large events and in the drone ordinance part of that is to make sure the public safety ordinance is in play.”
Drone use is legal in New Jersey, with some restrictions.
“Drones are permitted in New Jersey for recreational and commercial use, but are subject to FAA regulations and flight controls put into place by local governments,” a notice on a state website regulating commercial film production said.
Wildwood is a 1.65 square-mile shore town in Cape May County with a year round population of 5,111 that sewells to 225,000 in summer months. At least eight other towns and counties in the state have enacted regulations on drone use, including Allendale, Franklin Lakes, Long Beach Township, Middlesex County, Palisades Interstate Park Commission, Point Pleasant Beach, Ventnor and Wayne.
Some drone laws in other states have been overturned in federal court. One case in Texas overturned restrictions last year on news outlets’ ability to record breaking news events.
“This reasoning holds just as true for photographs and videos captured by drone: the process of creating the images finds just as much protection in the First Amendment as the images themselves do,” the court ruled.
Meanwhile, the city of Wildwood will hold a public hearing on Feb. 22, when a final vote on the drone measure is also scheduled.
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Bill Duhart may be reached at [email protected].
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