Whatever your feelings are about drones, they are cool little machines that do impressive things like snap photographs and quickly survey land that may be difficult to reach.
On Monday, Ferndale's City Council rejected an ordinance that would have made it a misdemeanor to fly a drone outside of residents' own backyard. Officials were concerned that the drones have the potential to violate people's privacy by spying on them, or crash in densely populated areas.
After hearing from hobbyists, professional photographers and a chimney sweep who uses a drone to look down at his jobs, council members killed the proposal, But the John Wisely and Bill Laitner of the Detroit Free Press report.
Councilman Mike Lennon said the city should wait for federal authorities to decide on regulations nationwide. "This isn't for local communities to decide," the paper quotes him as saying.