Local Drone / UAV laws

WA/AZ/ND: Current as of January 2025

Name Rules
Federal Airports - see FAA rules below
Part 107 - Recreational Rules:
Fly at or below 400 feet and stay away from surrounding obstacles
Keep your UAS within sight
Never fly near other aircraft, especially near airports
Never fly over groups of people
Fly only during daylight or civil twilight
Never fly over stadiums or sports events

Flying UAS in and around stadiums is prohibited starting one hour before and ending one hour after the scheduled time of any of the following events:

  • Major League Baseball
  • National Football League
  • NCAA Division One Football
  • NASCAR Sprint Cup, Indy Car, and Champ Series races Specifically, UAS operations are prohibited within a radius of three nautical miles of the stadium or venue.

Never fly near emergency response efforts such as fires
Never fly under the influence of drugs or alcohol
Understand airspace restrictions and requirements estricted in emergency response or disaster areas.
DC No Drone Zone (15 mile radius of Reagan airport)

National Parks - restricted without permit

US Forest Service - open

Arlington Municipal Airport (KAWO)
Marty Wray (360-403-3477)

State

WA State Parks and Campgrounds
restricted without permit

WA trails association

North Centennial Trail Trailhead
2 articles that provide guidance on drones

WA State Patrol
(360-654-1204) 

Not their jurisdiction 

State Trails should be OK 

Centennial Trail can't fly on this trail 

County Snohomish County
nothing listed on website
Snohomish County Sheriff (425-388-3393)
Called; not their priority but would engage if there is any civil disobedience issues.


Snohomish County Parks and Rec (425-388-6600)
County Code 22.16.080; no RC vehicles
Not all parks have NFZ posted
No enforcement; Park Rangers would be the enforcers for county codes
Tom Teigen tom.teigen@snoco.org (park director)
; emailed on 10/25
Rich Patton 425-388-6618 (operations supervisor)
never cited drones in parks
rangers are instructed to advise and warn until mid-2018
Snohomish and Stanwood are looking to add city drone laws
recommended emailing the director indicating the need for a drone park.
Rich purchased the drone at River Meadows park and was told by their legal department not to fly.
He owns a Phantom 2 or 3 and hasn't flown it in 18 months.
The trails association covers most of the unpaved trails that aren't covered by the national, state or county. He wasn't aware their site seemed to cover the Centennial trail which inferred drone usage.
I gave him an overview of the capabilities and software locks of the DJI and Yuneec drones. He was very interested and wondered if that could be utilized in a future drone use/non-use process. Example: have the parks get registered as a warning zone which would require the user to apply for a 2 day pass/waiver to fly.


River Meadows Park
(360-435-3441)
Rangers station have a drone but were told to not fly it and didn't know the reason why. See Rich Patton comments

Nakashima Barn (360-435-3441)

Twin Rivers Park
(360-403-3448)
County park, but maintained by City of Arlington
see Arlington PD statement

Gissberg Twin Lakes (425-388-6600)
emailed ; no response; called them, referred me to Rich Patton
allows RC motorboat racing on select days; found out the RC club pays for this usage and would likely be grandfathered in.
Skagit County
nothing listed on website
Skagit County Sheriff (360-336-9450)
Skagit County Parks and Rec
(360-416-1350)
County Code 9.41.200; no RC vehicles
Whatcom County

Whatcom County Sheriff (360-778-6600)
Whatcom County Parks and Rec (360-778-5850)
No county code
King County

King County Parks and Recreation

Marymoor Park Airfield
MAR/C club membership required.
City City of Arlington (360-403-3421)
No city code
Kristin Banfield emailed FAA link and newsletter with FAA rules

Arlingon PD (360-403-3400)
No enforceable city rules
No citations given out
They won't respond to a drone sighting unless it involves:
Criminal behavior (privacy, harassment, property damage, etc) which is still enforceable.
Appreciated the call and education
City parks should be OK
City of Marysville
Municipal Code: 6.82.145; no RC vehicles
One post about drones in the online forum
City parks are restricted
City of Everett (425-257-8700)
Municipal Code: 9.06.140; no RC vehicles
City parks are restricted
Port of Anacortes
No city code
Seafarers Park - FAA rules
Cap Sante Marina - FAA rules
City parks should be OK
Snohomish: Monroe - no city code
Snohomish: Lake Stevens - no city code
Snohomish: Mukilteo - no city code
Snohomish: Stanwood - no city code; seeking a drone code per Rich Patton
Snohomish: Snohomish - no city code; seeking a drone code per Rich Patton
Snohomish: Granite Falls - no city code
Skagit: La Conner - no city code
Skagit: Mt. Vernon - no city code
Skagit: Burlington - no city code
Whatcom: Bellingham - no city code
City parks should be OK


King: Seattle - no flying in city parks
King: Bellevue - no flying in city parks
City parks are restricted
City parks should be OK
ND: Bismarck - no city code
ND: Fargo - no city code
ND: Grand Forks - no city code
ND: Mandan - no city code
ND: Minot - no city code
AZ: Mesa - no city code
Clubs Diehard RC Emailed Brett Wilson; replied that UAV drones are able to take off and land from the RC field. FAA rules apply.

Evergreen Radio Modelers IMed on Facebook 10/10/17, no response
Club enforced
AMA license and Club fees
Codes www.mrsc.org
www.codebook.com
www.codepublishing.com
www.municode.com
Washington
North Dakota; no state park laws
Arizona; restricted in state parks without a permit
state law to preventing city's from making separate regulations.
Stories ND leads in drone research
WA proposed bill to restrict drones over private property