Walmart drone delivery proposals denied in one metro Atlanta county
When Walmart launched drone delivery late last year in metro Atlanta, taking the inaugural flight from a Woodstock Supercenter, a local leader heralded the occasion.
“I came here in a full self-driving Tesla to watch a drone autopilot goods away from a Walmart,” Woodstock Mayor Michael Caldwell said at the event. “What a time we live in and how exciting to get to do that in Woodstock.”
But Walmart drones didn’t get such a warm welcome in another part of metro Atlanta.
The Cobb County Board of Commissioners this week denied zoning requests that would have allowed Walmart to install drone hubs in the parking lots of two stores. The action followed community opposition to the proposals.
One store is at 3100 Johnson Ferry Road in East Cobb. The other is at 6520 Ernest W. Barrett Parkway SW near Powder Springs.
The denial comes as Walmart and its drone partner, Wing, have aggressive plans for expansion. The companies have said they want 270 drone delivery locations in 2027, stretching from Los Angeles to Miami and serving tens of millions of customers.
Already in metro Atlanta, Walmart has expanded drone delivery to 12 stores in less than six months, reaching about 120,000 households in the outer suburbs. Wing also launched a site with DoorDash in Locust Grove.
For Walmart, drones can boost its last-mile delivery by speeding up service and lowering costs. The drones depart from a docking station at the store and fly to a customer’s home, lowering the package from a tether. They can travel about 6 miles round trip and carry a 2.3-pound package.
Glen Wilkins, a public affairs director for Walmart, said at a Tuesday zoning hearing that customers are “looking for even quicker delivery times,” and drone delivery is that opportunity.
Autonomous technology has proliferated in metro Atlanta recently, from self-driving cars to sidewalk delivery robots, and now drones that can haul small packages.
But amid this rollout, communities must navigate the tension between rapid innovation and quality of life concerns such as safety and noise.
Walmart’s proposals drew opposition from Cobb residents, mostly those living near the East Cobb store, with an online petition gathering more than 1,200 signatures.
David Rumrill of the East Cobb Civic Association said at the hearing at least 17 residential subdivisions are within 2,000 feet of that Walmart, calling it “uniquely sensitive.”
“Our neighborhoods are a rare find,” East Cobb resident Jackie Ellis said at the hearing. “They’re places where kids ride bikes in cul-de-sacs still. We hold Fourth of July parades, and we bake when babies are born and people are sick.”
She said if the Walmart drone hub were approved, “our lives will change forever. We’re not just talking about a delivery service. We’re talking about a drone highway 150 feet above our heads.”
Ellis said she worries about the safety of the drones and possible threats to nearby small businesses.
“This is a defining choice for East Cobb,” she said. “Do we remain a quiet, family-oriented community with top schools, or do we become an unregulated test bed for commercial expansion?”
At the hearing, Wing’s Catherine Lovett addressed safety, privacy and noise concerns.
“We have done over 750,000 commercial deliveries across three continents, and for all of those locations, we have an excellent safety record for delivering to residential homes,” she said.
Several times during the Tuesday hearing, Cobb County officials said they were not debating the merits of drone delivery but the appropriate land use for the Walmart stores. Both stores have prior zoning stipulations, such as buffers and aesthetic restrictions, staff said.
“This is a land use case, not a noise or drone technology case,” Commissioner JoAnn Birrell said. “I don’t think this is conducive for this Walmart for the aesthetic reasons,” she said, referring to the East Cobb location.
Cobb County Commission Chair Lisa Cupid said at the hearing that the vote this week “does not necessarily mean denial for any Walmart or for any retail store location in the future.” She opposed the zoning request for the East Cobb store, but was the sole vote in favor of the proposal near Powder Springs.
Cupid said the county is evolving and suggested officials look at setting policies around drone delivery.
“I see the benefit to this technology,” she said. “I just do.”
A Walmart spokesperson said in a statement the company remains “excited about expanding drone delivery in metro Atlanta with Wing, especially given the strong response we’ve seen from customers already using the service.”
The spokesperson didn’t answer a question about whether it may try to find other sites in Cobb County for its drone operations.
A Wing spokesperson said: “We will continue to focus on providing communities with a fast, efficient delivery alternative that reduces traffic and enhances local infrastructure.”
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