No drones are dropping off packages at homes in Colorado yet — but they’re coming.
And Northglenn wants to get out ahead of the nascent technology, which is already operating in several states and can deliver thousands of items to a customer’s front door — from printer cartridges to cold medicine to bananas — inside a 30-minute window.
In the past week, the northern suburb of nearly 40,000 rolled out rules that its City Council could finalize as early as next month. Northglenn says it is the first Colorado city to develop regulations for the latest innovation in convenience culture.
“We are likely to have drones flying over our city, around our city and in our city,” said Northglenn Mayor Meredith Leighty. “We want to get out in front of it so we have a standard when an application comes forward.”
That day is coming soon.
Walmart has already approached Northglenn with plans to team up with Wing, a drone operator owned by Google parent company Alphabet, to deliver merchandise to customers from its Walmart Neighborhood Market store at 10755 N. Washington St.
“As we all know, the traditional way of shopping has changed over the last 10 years, especially with COVID,” Ryan Irsik, the director of government relations for Walmart, told the Northglenn council in August. “Today, our customers expect almost same-day or next-day delivery, and they’re willing to pay a premium for that.”
Cities’ hands are largely tied when it comes to oversight of delivery drones because the Federal Aviation Administration has full regulatory authority over the devices once they leave the ground.
“We don’t have the ability to regulate the drones once they are in the air,” said Becky Smith, Northglenn’s director of planning and development.
Walmart and Wing also approached Parker and Castle Rock about doing deliveries by drone. In July, the two communities put a moratorium on the practice as they try to figure out what they can do to ensure the commercial drones don’t negatively impact residents.
But Northglenn leaders felt there was no need for a timeout, recognizing that the city’s land-use powers would apply only to the ground portion of drone operations. An attempt by state lawmakers this year to which could have given local governments some regulatory guidelines, went nowhere.
Northglenn’s proposed rules state that any drone launch site needs to be at least 200 feet from homes and schools and needs to be screened or fenced from public rights-of-way. Noise would not be allowed to exceed 65 decibels at the property line, and flights would be restricted to 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Surveillance of private places by the drones would be prohibited, and the special use permit to fly the machines would be subject to annual renewal, allowing Northglenn to assess the program and make any changes to the rules should something unexpected arise.
“If the buffers needed to change, we could do that,” Smith said.
Noise can be an issue
In neighboring Thornton, the city has been approached not only by Walmart about drone delivery, but also by Amazon. The company has an 855,000-square-foot fulfillment center in the city, has also expressed interest in launching its Amazon Prime Air service locally.
That prospect prompted Thornton Councilman Justin Martinez to pose the question earlier this year: “Is Thornton ready for drone delivery?”
He is concerned about the noise the multi-rotor machines generate, which varies based on the drone’s size and power.
“I worry about the impact of being outside and enjoying your property and your community,” Martinez said. “We have to make sure we are protecting our residents’ way of life.”
Thornton Planning Director Mike Garrott said that city was still in the “investigative stage” regarding drone regulations. No applications have yet been submitted to the city, he said.
“There’s a lot of things we don’t know,” Garrott said.
But what is known is that more states will see airborne delivery services soon. Delivery drones are already operating in Michigan, Florida, Texas and Arizona, among other states. And that footprint is set to grow larger.
According to a , a global market research firm, the international drone delivery sector is expected to jump from $5 billion this year to nearly $21 billion by 2034. North America, the firm reported, dominates the industry, accounting for 35% of the global market in 2025.
A recent about Amazon’s drones in Texas reported that the online retail giant announced plans last month to expand its Prime Air deliveries to 500 towns and cities by the end of the year.
However, according to the Times’ report, the company may not be greeted with open arms.
Tempers have flared in Richardson, a Dallas suburb, over the constant buzzing and whirring of the machines as they criss-cross the skies delivering packages to homes.
The Times story highlighted various complaints about the high volume — both in traffic and sound — of the machines. One Richardson resident equated Amazon’s drones to “flying lawn mowers.”
In June, according to the Times, protesters gathered at an Amazon distribution center in Richardson and held signs that read: “Too low, too loud, too many.”
Additional concerns with delivery drones revolve around collisions and other mishaps. While the vast majority of flights go off without a hitch, there have been accidents.
In February, a delivery drone in Richardson. A few months prior, two Prime Air delivery drones struck a crane in Arizona, resulting in “substantial” damage and a fire, . There were no injuries in either incident.
Novelty, intrigue may lure customers
Northglenn council members asked Walmart and Wing representatives at the August council meeting about other issues with drone delivery.
One councilman raised the prospect of hackers taking control of the drones and using them as projectiles. Another asked how many delivery jobs might get displaced by the unmanned flying machines. A third brought up porch pirates — people who steal deliveries off of door stoops — and whether they might be turbocharged into action by the sound of an approaching drone.
Another question asked about drones operating safely in Colorado’s notoriously strong winds.
Josh Bucci, Wing’s site launch manager, told the council that he was not aware of any collisions or mishaps with his company’s drone fleet. Walmart announced in May its
Wing’s drones, made of styrofoam and carbon fiber, weigh less than 20 pounds, Bucci said. They can carry up to 5 pounds and deliver packages within a six-mile radius from the launch pad, which in this case would be located in the Walmart store’s parking lot.
At 150 feet to 400 feet above the ground, Bucci said, their sound profile is “basically imperceptible.” But people will hear them when they hover 25 feet over a delivery site, extending a tether down to the customer’s driveway or walkway to release the package.
The drones, which fly autonomously but are monitored by a team of controllers, are equipped with sensors that can make out shapes and forms for navigation purposes. But they do not provide a live video feed to controllers, Bucci said.
The environmental benefits of drone delivery over people driving to the store are substantial, he said.
“Each one of these deliveries could be a car that’s on the road driving several miles to pick up a small package,” Bucci told the council.
Orders for prescription medicine and alcohol are off-limits to drones because there is no way to confirm identification and age at the receiving end.
“You’re not going to be able to get a six-pack of Bud Light delivered for the football game,” Irsik, Walmart’s governmental relations director, told the council.
Leighty, Northglenn’s mayor, said she could see the service being helpful to a parent with a sick child, where running out to the store to get cold medicine might not be possible. Beyond that, she said, it could simply be intriguing to try out a novel technology — akin to taking a first ride in a driverless Waymo taxi. Waymos started plying Denver’s streets less than a month ago.
“I imagine residents would dabble and see,” she said. “It could be fun to check out.”
