The possibility of delivery drones flying in and out of the Walmart Supercenter in Fort Wright proved to be a source of concern among Kenton County mayors this Saturday at the monthly meeting of the Kenton County Mayors Group.
The topic was broached by Fort Wright Mayor Dave Hatter, who had been contacted by Walmart Public Affairs & Government Relations Representative Erik Hingst about some “exciting technology,” according to an email from Hingst Hatter shared with LINK nky. The word ‘drone’ doesn’t appear in the email chain, but the company that already makes drones for the chain store, Wing, is mentioned.
Management at the store itself was not allowed to comment per the company’s policy, and LINK nky has reached out to Hingst directly for more information.
Hatter said that possibly starting in June (LINK nky is working to confirm this) there would be drones flying in and out of the store within a five mile radius to make deliveries. Hatter didn’t seem to like this prospect.
“As I understand, it is still illegal to shoot them down in Kentucky,” Hatter joked. “I may be testing that theory soon.”
Wing announced in January that it and the chain retailer were planning on expanding drone delivery service to 150 new stores throughout the country over the course of the fiscal year. Cincinnati is listed as one of the major metro areas where this expansion will take place. Walmart first began using drones to make deliveries in 2021, according to 2025 announcement from the company.
“We are scaling ultra-fast service to an additional 150 Walmart stores over the next year, bringing the convenience of drone delivery to more than 40 million Americans,” reads Wing’s January announcement. “Walmart and Wing will establish a network of over 270 drone delivery locations in 2027, stretching from Los Angeles to Miami. The question is no longer if Wing and Walmart will deliver to your city, it’s when.”
“By expanding drone delivery to new major metro areas, we are helping more customers solve for their last-minute needs faster than ever before,” said Greg Cathey, Walmart’s senior vice president of digital fulfillment transformation, in Wing’s announcement.
When contacted, the Walmart media relations team directed LINK nky back to the January announcement: “We do not have any additional expansion news to share at this time.”
Covington Mayor Ron Washington said drones may presage declining job opportunities for working families, as evidenced by his own experience.
Washington said that oftentimes, people who were dropping off packages or food would have “little kids in the car because they’re single parents. So, I think it’s a broader thing than embracing technology. I think it’s a loss of opportunity for jobs.”
While he admitted that the mayors group itself didn’t have much power to do something about it, he said, “the broader thing that we need to realize is that everyone doesn’t have a college education, everyone doesn’t have a technical school. Because of the circumstances of their life, this may be how they’re providing.”
Drones are regulated under federal law, something mutiple attendees pointed out after Hatter’s initial comments. Independence Mayor Chris Reinersman, who also serves on the Managing Board for Kenton County Planning and Development Services, or PDS, said the Board had asked its attorney to investigate if the local regulation of drones was possible under zoning law. If so, Reinersman said, it may be possible for PDS to furnish model ordinance for the cities.
“Right now, it’s just trying to figure out if this really falls into the purview of PDS, of a zoning issue, or is it something broader than that,” Reinersman said.