Richmond, VA Drone Rules: Commercial Drones (2026)

Richmond's only codified drone regulation is a permit fee, not a standalone flight ordinance: Richmond City Code § 8-279(c)(10) lists a "drone filming permit fee (Federal Aviation Administration license required)" of $125.00 within the Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities' schedule of additional fees for use of public grounds and indoor facilities. Requiring an FAA license ties the local permit to the federal Part 107 commercial drone certification, meaning the City's fee applies to commercial or filming-related drone flights over its grounds rather than casual recreational flying.

The drone fee is layered onto the same base permitting structure that applies to any use of department-owned or managed property. Richmond City Code § 8-281 requires a nonrefundable $25.00 permit processing fee before any individual permit, including the drone filming permit, is issued, and that processing fee rises to $50.00 total if the application is submitted seven days or less before the planned use. Where the drone operation is tied to a broader film production, the operator also owes the $100.00-per-day, per-location staff cost fee in § 8-279(c)(11) and, if the shoot needs a street closed, the $50.00 per-street closure fee in § 8-279(c)(9).

The Code does not separately define what counts as "filming" for purposes of the drone fee, and it does not list a flat prohibition on flying a drone in a City park without a permit; the fee schedule instead presumes that commercial drone filming on City grounds is a permitted, fee-based use administered through the Department's standard grounds-use permit process.