Monterey, CA Drone Rules: Park Drone Restrictions (2026)

Section 23-6 of the Monterey City Code, titled "Flying Remote Control Models," bars operating "any model" in any park, playground, beach, or public recreation area, and the section writes its own two-part definition of "model" rather than pointing to a state or federal drone statute. The first branch covers any device that flies, whether it is uncontrolled or controlled by radio, wire, or string, and is powered by internal combustion, electricity, gasoline, or any other fuel, so a battery-powered consumer drone of any size falls inside the ban on that basis alone.

The second branch separately catches any flying device, powered or not, that weighs more than eight ounces, which sweeps in larger unpowered gliders and kite-style models the first branch might otherwise miss. The only carve-out in the section is for a City-designated area for model use, and even inside that area the operator still has to follow the posted rules governing the designated equipment, so a park without such a designation and posted rules offers no lawful place to fly. Because the ban sits inside Chapter 23's Article 1 general park regulations, it applies across every City park, beach, and recreation area covered by that Article's broad "recreation area" definition in § 23-2, which reaches parks, greenbelts, gardens, beaches, and any other City-owned or City-controlled property used for recreation, so the restriction is not limited to a short list of named parks.

It also sits alongside § 23-3's separate ban on unpermitted assemblies and its 15-mile-per-hour vehicle speed limit as one of the "reasonable time, place, and manner conditions" the Chapter's purpose clause, § 23-1, says are meant to protect the shared use of City recreation areas.