City of Westminster 

Office of the 

City Attorney 

W E S T M I N S T ·E R 

February 23, 2016 

Federal Aviation Administration 

Emerging Technologies Team 

470 L'Enfant Plaza, SW 

Suite 7105 

Washington, DC 20024 

Via Certified Mail, Return Receipt Requested 

4800 West 92nd Avenue Re: Declaration Letter- City of Westminster COA Application 

Westminster, Colorado 

80031 

303-658-2400 

FAX 303-706-3920 

Printed 011 recyded paper 

To Whom It May Concern: 

The City of Westminster, Colorado (the "City"), would like to apply for a 

Ce11ificate of Waiver and Authorization ("COA'') to allow operation of its unmanned 

drone, a single DJI Phantom 2 Vision+ UA V, or the like, for non-commercial 

purposes. 

The City is a Colorado home-rule municipality located in Adams and 

Jefferson Counties, Colorado, authorized pursuant to the Article XX of the Colorado 

Constitution, as well as Title 31, Article 1, of the Colorado Revised Statutes. As 

such, the City of Westminster is governed by its own home-rule charter, adopted by 

its voters on January 7, 1958, and subsequently adopted ordinances. The City has a 

population of nearly 110,000 people, and its corporate qoundaries encompass 32.9 

square miles just nmih of Denver, Colorado. The City builds, operates and manages 

its own water and wastewater utilities system, an extensive public works 

infrastructure, as well as many parks and open space properties. 

The City seeks a COA to allow operation of an unmanned drone to survey 

and monitor the City's utility infrastructure; as well as to inspect, document and 

provide aerial video records of the City's various public works related infrastructure, 

including water and wastewater facilities and parks and open space holdings. These 

facilities include two water treatment plants (Semper Water Treatment Plant and 

Northwest Water Treatment Plant); one wastewater treatment plant (Big Dry Creek 

Wastewater Treatment Plant); a reclaimed water treatment plant (Big Dry Creek 

Reclaimed Water Treatment Plant); an associated extensive water and wastewater 

infrastructure system; and an extensive public works infrastructure, including public 

roads, bridges and a city-wide parks and open space property pmifolio. As part of its 

overall water and wastewater system, the City also owns, operates and maintains a 
large holding of water rights assets and associated raw water and ditch and reservoir 

facilities that could be observed, documented and monitored by drone. 

· The City is qualified to hold a COA for the foregoing activities because its 

drone will be used exclusively as "public aircraft" as follows: 

The City owns and will exclusively operate the drone, thereby meeting the 

definition of"public aircraft" in 49 U.S.C. § 401 02(a)(41 )(C). 

The City may at times lease another drone for the City's exclusive use under 

the COA for at least 90 continuous days, thereby also meeting the definition of 

"public aircraft" in 49 U.S.C. § 40102(a)(41)(D). 

Fmiher, the foregoing drone activities qualify as a "public aircraft" per the 

requirements of 49 U.S.C. §§ 40125(a) and (b) as follows: 

The aircraft will be used only for activities described herein. Specifically, the 

drone will be used to monitor and manage the City's utility and public works 

resources. 

At no time will the drone be used for any commercial purpose, at no time will 

the drone be offered for hire, and at no time will the done cany any 

individuals. The COA will be applied exclusively for the operation of 

unmanned drone(s), which simply cannot accommodate passenger travel. 

To be clear, at all times the City will comply with the prohibitions against 

commercial use found in 49 U.S.C. § 40125(b). 

As part of the City's ongoing commitment to ensure full compliance with all 

FAA regulations and guidelines, the City has completed FAA registration of its 

cunent DJI Phantom 2 Vision+ UAV. This registration was completed through the 

FAA UAS Registry, and the City of Westminster has received a Small UAS 

Certificate ofRegistration (UAS Certificate Number FA39RATXKP). This 

registration number has been affixed to the UA V unit as required by the FAA. 

As such, on behalf of the City, I request access to apply for a COA using the 

FAA's online application process. Please feel free to contact me with any questions 

or to request more information. 

Sincerely, 

David Frankel, City Attorney 

cc: Joseph Maibach, FAA, Air Traffic Control Specialist (by email to 

joseph. mai bach@faa. gov) 

Bob Kmgmire, Water Resources Engineer