Show residents and investors what changed
A new streetscape, a rebuilt park or a cleared redevelopment site is hard to appreciate from the sidewalk. From the air, the scope is obvious: the new tree canopy, the trail that now connects two neighborhoods, the vacant block that became a plaza. For city staff, aerials make council updates and grant reports clearer. For economic development teams, they show site selectors and developers where a property sits relative to highways, rail, water and downtown.
Michigan law gives downtown development authorities a direct role in this kind of work. Under the Recodified Tax Increment Financing Act, a DDA board may create, operate and fund marketing initiatives that benefit only retail and general marketing of the downtown district. Placemaking projects often need visuals too. The MEDC’s Public Spaces Community Places program matches successful crowdfunding campaigns for public space projects with up to $50,000, or $75,000 for universally accessible projects, and has invested more than $14 million in 421 projects since 2014, according to the MEDC. A campaign page with good aerials of the site explains the project faster than a rendering alone.
Before-and-after documentation that holds up
A before-and-after sequence only works if the images line up. At the start of a project, we set fixed shooting points, heights and headings with your team and log them. On every return visit, the drone goes back to the same positions at a similar time of day, so shadows and light stay comparable. Files are dated and organized by site, which makes them useful for public records, grant close-outs and the ribbon cutting.
The method is the same one we use for construction progress aerials, and our construction progress guide explains how often to fly.
Public land: who says yes
Michigan’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems Act (PA 436 of 2016) says a political subdivision may not enact or enforce an ordinance that regulates the ownership or operation of drones, with narrow exceptions, though a city may set rules for its own use of drones. In 2022, the Michigan Court of Appeals, in an unpublished opinion, affirmed a ruling that Ottawa County’s park drone ordinances were preempted. Using public land for a commercial shoot is a separate question, handled through film, event and park permits, and we follow those processes. This is general information, not legal advice.
The places we check most often:
- Detroit. The Detroit Film Office issues a no-fee film permit, and its application asks whether you will use drones or film on the Detroit River, at Hart Plaza, Spirit Plaza or Belle Isle, and asks for the pilot’s certificate and the drone’s serial number. The Riverwalk needs a separate permit from the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy, which approves drones separately.
- State parks. The DNR’s Land Use Order 5.1(6) requires written permission for commercial drone use and bars flights within 100 yards of cultural or historical sites or structures, over occupied beaches and over campgrounds.
- Metroparks. Huron-Clinton Metroparks Rule 28 allows drones consistent with federal and state law but requires prior notice to the airport within five miles of one. Commercial filming is arranged through the park office.
- Federal restrictions. The FAA lists the Coast Guard’s Sector Detroit base at the foot of Mt. Elliott Street as a national security area where drones are banned from the ground to 400 feet.
When a city hires us for its own property, the permission comes from the department that controls the site, and we still file the airspace and insurance paperwork.
Placemaking events and flying over people
Festivals, markets and openings are where a downtown looks its best, and where drone rules are strictest. Part 107 bars flying over people unless they are part of the operation, under cover or the drone meets an operations-over-people category, and sustained flight over an open-air crowd requires Remote ID compliance. We usually capture the site before gates open, fly along the edge of the crowd and let ground cameras handle the close moments. In downtown Detroit, the FAA also closes the airspace within 3 nautical miles of Comerica Park and Ford Field around Tigers and Lions games, and around the Detroit Grand Prix circuit during the race. Our game-day guide covers the details, and every flight gets a same-day check in B4UFLY or a LAANC app.
Start a municipal project
Tell us the sites, the timeline and how the images will be used: a council presentation, an investment pitch, a campaign page or a multi-year record. We will check permits and airspace and send a plan and a fixed quote. Get a quote.