SEMINOLE — Drones aren’t landing at the Bay Pines Walmart. Not yet.
The Seminole City Council on May 12 declined 4-3 to authorize negotiations on a 2013 development agreement amendment that would have cleared the way for a Wing drone delivery “nest” at the Walmart Supercenter at 10237 Bay Pines Blvd. The vote ended a process that began with the applicant’s April 13 submission and ran through two council workshops.
Vice Mayor Chris Burke moved first.
“We’ve received the information — or lack thereof — from the applicant and the information from the city attorney,” Burke said. “In my opinion, I do not wish to amend the development agreement. I would call for a consensus poll.”
Mayor Leslie Waters polled the room. Four hands went up against the amendment. Council members Ray Beliveau, Al Shields and Trish Springer voted in favor, with Springer saying she trusted staff to negotiate the terms.
The decision came fast. The May 12 workshop lasted minutes. City Manager Ann Toney-Deal told the council that staff had no additional information to present. The applicant’s land-use planner, from Holtzman Vogel — a national law and government affairs firm with a Tallahassee office — sat in the front row and said nothing.
What changed between workshops is not entirely on the record. Burke cited “information from the city attorney” as part of his reasoning. City Attorney Jay Daigneault, asked two weeks ago about the scope of state preemption, would say only that “all matters associated with the drone nest are presently under review by the city.”
What was on the table?
CPH Consulting, the Sanford-based engineering firm representing Walmart, had asked the city to amend the 39-acre Bay Pines master plan to allow a drone operations area in 23 parking spaces at the southeast corner of the lot. The plan called for a 20-foot shipping container for drone storage, an 8-foot security fence and a battery-powered generator. They would have the capacity for up to 1,000 flights per day.
Wing — the Alphabet subsidiary already delivering for Walmart in the Tampa market — would operate the aircraft. A flight operations coordinator told council April 28 that the drones weigh 11.7 pounds, carry up to 2.5 pounds, cruise at 50 mph and serve a three-mile radius. He pegged the sound at 62.6 decibels during loading and delivery.
The federal authorization is broader. The FAA’s Final Environmental Assessment for Wing’s Central Florida operations, signed in late June 2025, clears up to 150 nests across the operating area, each serving a six-mile radius, with as many as 60,000 flights per day at full buildout. Community Development Director Wesley Wright said staff had not reviewed the federal document.
What council heard at the first workshop
Burke focused on Fire Station 74. The station, one of seven properties inside the original 2013 master plan, is a few miles away from the proposed nest.
“If there were half of that, 500 flights a day, the houses immediately around Walmart are going to be flown over constantly from sun up to sundown,” Burke said April 28.
Springer worried about the birds. “We have a lot of natural eagles in Seminole,” she said. “I’m sure it’s going to affect their habitats and their fishing habits.”
Shields compared the drone noise to a leaf blower and at the time suggested it might be acceptable. Waters said she wanted to research the technology and hear it in person before voting. Council never got that demonstration. When council member Thom Barnhorn asked on May 12 whether members had heard the noise, Waters answered no.
“They told us it would just blend in with the rest of the traffic out there and wouldn’t be a big issue,” Waters said.
The state law backdrop
What the city could have negotiated, even if council had said yes, is itself contested.
Florida Statute 330.41, the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Act, has preempted local drone regulation since 2017. House Bill 1121, effective Oct. 1, 2025, expanded that preemption and added new protections for drone delivery operators. Cities cannot regulate flight paths, altitudes, hours in the air, equipment or operator qualifications. They retain authority over launches and landings on public property — the Walmart parcel is private — and over nuisance, voyeurism, harassment, reckless endangerment and property damage.
The new statute also restricts the development-permit process. Cities cannot deny a permit to a drone delivery service based on the location of its drone port, and cannot impose drone-specific landscaping conditions.
That left the development agreement amendment as one of the few tools Seminole had. The May 12 vote closed it.
What’s next?
The council’s decision blocks the nest. It does not block the drones. Wing could serve Seminole addresses by overflight from a nest based in a neighboring jurisdiction, and state law would prevent Seminole from stopping the flights.
In a written statement May 15, a Wing spokesperson did not address whether the company would pursue an alternative Pinellas County site, challenge the council’s decision or rely on overflight from elsewhere. The spokesperson said Wing and Walmart are expanding drone delivery to more than 270 locations nationwide, including multiple sites across Tampa Bay, and that “as we introduce our service to the state of Florida, we look forward to continuing our constructive dialogue with the Seminole City Council.”