PORTLAND, Ore. — North Portland neighbors and environmentalists fought the drones and won.
After voicing strong opposition to a proposed drone testing facility on Port of Portland riverfront property, the Port, last week, ended the deal.
Now the testing company is looking at alternative Portland locations.
A six and half acre plot along the Willamette River just north of the St. Johns Bridge was the site at the center of the brief controversy.
It's owned by the Port of Portland and has sat vacant for 13 years. The Port has been looking to lease it.
"Our goal is to bring in businesses that help provide jobs to the community and help boost our economy," said Port of Portland spokesperson Kama Simonds.
So when an opportunity to lease it to a Verizon subsidiary with headquarters in Portland popped up the Port started negotiations.
The company was called Skyward. It was actually founded in 2012 at the University of Oregon.
It wanted to use the land and the river to test drones for commercial use like powerline inspections, natural disaster response, and wildfire prevention.
But the idea of drones buzzing up and down the Willamette, not far from the St. Johns neighborhood, didn't fly with many.
The community was concerned about privacy issues, noise and wildlife in the area.
"Having drones buzzing up and down the river day after day after day... really undermines those efforts that have been going on for decades to recover this river," said Bob Sallinger, director of conservation with Portland Audubon.
"We have a pair of nesting Peregrines on the St. Johns bridge that would be very vulnerable to colliding with those drones," he added.
The Port listened. Earlier this month it canceled the plans.
"We do value community input and we do listen to it," said Simonds.
So for now, the riverfront property will continue to sit vacant but don't be surprised if you see and hear some drones flying somewhere else in Portland.
On its website, Skyward states that it has since discovered other locations that would provide more immediate use and would allow the company to more quickly advance commercial drone operations and bring high-quality tech jobs to the Portland area.
As for where those sites might be, the company did not respond to our inquiry.