A new Walmart drone delivery service could come to North Richland Hills.
The city’s Planning and Zoning Commission approved a recommendation to allow Wing drone delivery to operate at two Walmart locations for a one-year trial period on Thursday.
If approved by City Council, drone delivery would be offered at the Walmart at 9101 N Tarrant Parkway and the one at 6401 NE Loop 820.
Wing first made its way to the Dallas-Fort Worth area with two sites in Frisco and with Walgreens in Little Elm.
Prior to the meeting, residents took to social media with concerns about privacy and cluttered airways.
"Great, these things will be buzzing around and littering the sky," Facebook user Rob Walls said in a comment.
Others appeared to support the idea.
"Absolutely in favor of this," Facebook user Mark Zubizarreta said in another comment. "Less traffic on the road, and less pollution."
Bailey Edwards, Wing Government and Community Affairs head, said the drones are built specifically for residential delivery and can deliver to a person’s front yard or backyard.
Wing drones have a load capacity of about two and a half pounds and travel within a six-mile radius, so they’re not going to get rid of large deliveries.
“If you want to have mac and cheese, and you forgot the cheese, or maybe the large order didn’t bring every ingredient, we can get it to you without you having to leave your home and pack up the family,” Edwards said.
The drones travel away from other air traffic so it will not interfere with nearby airline operations. Edwards said the drones sound like two cars passing and will not have an impact on the public.
Wing drones hover over the delivery spot from 23 feet and drop off packages using a tether, which detaches from the drone if grabbed or it catches on to something.
Edwards said the drones would operate between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. When not in operation, the drones will have a fenced landing spot in a corner of the stores’ parking lots powered by a generator.
Drone delivery will have a fee ranging from $3 to $6.
This isn’t the first time drones have made their way into North Richland Hills airways.
North Richland Hills broke two Guinness World Records in December for its holiday drone show which featured 1,499 drones. It broke the records for “largest fictional character made with multi-rotors or drones” and “largest aerial image made with multi-rotors or drones.
City Council will hear the drone delivery recommendation during its Feb. 26 meeting.
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