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 ofWestminster COA Application Westminster, Colorado 80031 303-658-2400 FAX 303-706-3920

Printed 011 r ecydedpaper 

### To Whom It

### May Concern: The City ofWestminster, Colorado (the "City"), would like to apply for a Ce11ificate ofWaiver and Authorization ("COA'') to allow operation ofits unmanned drone, a single DJI Phantom 2 Vision+UAV, orthe 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 ofthe Colorado Constitution, as well as Title 31, Article 1, ofthe Colorado Revised Statutes. As such, the City ofWestminster is governed by its own home-rule charter, adopted by its voters onJanuary 7, 1958, and subsequently adopted ordinances. The City has a population ofnearly 110,000 people, and its corporate qoundaries encompass 32.9 square milesjust nmih ofDenver, 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 COAto allow operation ofanunmanned drone to survey and monitorthe City's utility infrastructure; as well as to inspect, document and provide aerial video records ofthe 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 WaterTreatment Plant and Northwest WaterTreatment Plant); one wastewater treatment plant (Big Dry Creek Wastewater TreatmentPlant); 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 ofits overall water and wastewater system, the City also owns, operates and maintains alarge holding ofwaterrights assets and associated raw water and ditch and reservoir facilities that could be observed, documented and monitoredby drone.

· The City is qualified to hold a COAfor 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. § 40102(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" perthe requirements of49 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 commercialpurpose, 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 accommodatepassengertravel. 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 ofthe City's ongoing commitment to ensure full compliance with all FAAregulations and guidelines, the City has completed FAA registration ofits cunentDJI Phantom 2 Vision+ UAV. This registration was completed through the FAA UAS Registry, and the City ofWestminster has received a Small UAS Certificate ofRegistration (UAS Certificate NumberFA39RATXKP). This registration number has been affixed to the UAV unit as required by the FAA. As such, on behalfofthe City, I request access to apply for a COAusing the FAA's online application process. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or to request more information. Sincerely,

David Frankel, CityAttorney

cc: Joseph Maibach, FAA, AirTraffic Control Specialist (by email to joseph.maibach@faa

.gov) Bob Kmgmire, Water Resources Engineer