Lee County, FL Drone Rules: Park Drone Restrictions (2026)

Sec. 20-27(h), part of the "Recreational regulations" section of the County Parks and Recreation Ordinance (Ord. No. 18-12 § IX, March 20, 2018, amended by Ord. No. " Its entire operative text is a single compliance requirement: use of aviation, unmanned aircraft, aerial devices and aerial watercraft in a County park must be in compliance with any and all federal and State law. The County has not layered its own altitude cap, no-fly buffer, registration requirement or launch/landing restriction onto drone flights in county parks; enforcement rests on whatever the FAA and Florida's drone statutes already require.

That stands in contrast to the very next subsection, Sec. 20-27(i), which imposes a park-wide, unconditional ban on parachutes, hang gliders, paragliders and kiteboards, with narrow exceptions for kiteboarding at Causeway Island A and for activities the Director permits under Sec. 20-22(a)(3); drones and other unmanned aircraft were deliberately left out of that flat prohibition. A drone flight that becomes part of a permitted commercial shoot or special event, however, is folded back into the park permit system: a photographer or production wanting to launch drones as part of a reserved activity still needs the Sec.

20-22(a)(3) park permit for that activity, and a drone shoot tied to pyrotechnics, firearms or stunts on any property additionally trips the county-wide special event permit trigger in Sec. 19-185(a)(4).