Caldwell, ID Drone Rules: Commercial Drones (2026)

Section 10-12-03-17, adopted by Ordinance 3670 on April 21, 2025, is Caldwell's specific-use provision for commercial drone delivery operations. A commercial drone delivery hub (large) may be permitted only through a Special Use Permit, and only in the C-3, C-4, H-C, M-1, M-2, and I-P zoning districts. A commercial drone delivery hub (small) gets by-right treatment as a primary use in those same six districts, and can also operate as an accessory use to a permitted grocery store, restaurant, retail store, shopping center, or warehouse/distribution center in any district, capped at 10% of the host building's floor area when housed in a detached accessory building.

Every hub must designate a drone staging area on an approved site plan, and that area cannot sit inside a required setback, landscape buffer, fire lane, easement, drive aisle, loading zone, or parking space, and cannot obstruct pedestrian or vehicle circulation. As an accessory use the staging area is capped at 10% of the lot or 1,000 square feet, whichever is smaller, unless it is inside or on the roof of the primary building. At-grade equipment and goods need a six-foot solid sight-obscuring fence, though landing pads are exempt.

Noise-sensitive buffers are strict: a small hub's staging area must stay at least 150 feet from any dwelling, nursing or residential care facility, or public park, and a large hub needs 300 feet, though City Council can shrink that to 150 feet if it finds the Special Use Permit will not harm neighborhood health, safety, or welfare. Parking runs one space per 1,000 square feet of storage floor area, one per 300 square feet of office or customer-service area, and one per 300 square feet of staging area for hubs with no building.

Every drone operator, regardless of the drone's weight, must register with the FAA, cannot damage people or property, cannot capture images or audio where someone has a reasonable expectation of privacy, and must comply with Idaho Code § 21-213.