Zipline International, Inc., Site Plan Review
Summary
SCH Number
2026020251
Public Agency
Yolo County
Document Title
Zipline International, Inc., Site Plan Review
Document Type
NOE - Notice of Exemption
Received
Posted
2/9/2026
Document Description
A Site Plan Review to authorize Zipline International’s (“Zipline”) existing drone testing facility that has operated on the property of Yolo Land & Cattle Company since 2017. The drone testing facility (“Nest Z”) is located on a five-acre site on a 466-acre Agricultural Extensive (A-X) zoned parcel (APN: 047-140-018). In addition to the five-acre Nest Z site, Zipline's flight operations take advantage of the airspace over approximately 5,880 acres of the larger ±7,500-acre ranch (APNs: 047-070-008, 047-100-002, 047-100-003, 047-100-004, 047-100-005, 047-130-001, 047-130-011, 047-130-017, 047-130-018, and 047-140-033). The drone testing facility includes two modular office buildings, two 1,600-sf tents, 21 Conex storage containers, 31 drone docking towers, several temporary mock delivery sites designed to simulate backyard environments, and several other ancillary structures to support its operations. Zipline also constructed a 12-foot-tall visual observation tower located approximately ¼-mile south of the main facility.
Zipline conducts 500-600 test flights per day, usually 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Drone flights are confined within the airspace of the 7,500-acre ranch and adhere to programmed buffers to prevent drones from flying over parcels not owned by Yolo Land & Cattle Company. Zipline plans to expand operations within the existing five-acre footprint, including 12 additional Conex storage containers, three additional drone docking towers, and expansion of temporary mock delivery sites. At full build out, the number of approximate daily test flights is expected to increase to 2,500. Zipline’s drone operations must comply with requirements of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Contact Information
Name
Tracy Gonzalez
Agency Name
County of Yolo
Job Title
Associate Planner
Contact Types
Lead/Public Agency
Phone
Name
Alyssa Pont
Agency Name
Zipline International, Inc.
Job Title
Deputy General Counsel, Compliance & Investigations
Contact Types
Project Applicant
Phone
Name
Jeff Anderson
Agency Name
County of Yolo
Job Title
Principal Planner
Contact Types
Lead/Public Agency
Phone
Location
Coordinates
Cities
Esparto, Unincorporated Area
Counties
Yolo
Regions
Unincorporated
Cross Streets
N/A
Zip
95627
Parcel #
047-140-018
State Highways
N/A
Railways
N/A
Airports
Ala Doble Airport (private)
Schools
N/A
Waterways
Cottonwood/South Fork Willow/Chickahominy Slough, Winters Canal
Township
9N
Range
2W
Section
10
Base
MDB&M
Notice of Exemption
Exempt Status
Statutory Exemption
Type, Section or Code
Statutory Exemption; Public Resources Code § 21080(b)(1), and CEQA Guidelines § 15268, Ministerial Projects
Reasons for Exemption
CEQA Guidelines Section 15268(a) states that ministerial projects are exempt from the requirements of CEQA, and that the determination of what is “ministerial” can most appropriately be made by the particular public agency involved based upon its analysis of its own laws, either as part of its implementing regulations or on a case-by-case basis. Yolo County Code Section 8-2.306(q) states that small, experimental, or pilot agricultural and seed research facilities occupying no more than 5.0 acres of a site, which are incidental to the main agricultural use in the area, may be allowed through the issuance of a Site Plan Review. The project is a drone research facility whose research has agricultural applications. The project site occupies five acres of a 7,500-acre ranch (i.e. less than 0.1%) and the operations are incidental and compatible with the ongoing operations on the property. Yolo County Code Section 8-2.215 defines that the purpose of the Site Plan Review approval process is to determine compliance between a more complicated development project seeking a building or related permit, not subject to discretionary review, with the provisions of the Yolo County Code and the Yolo County General Plan. A Site Plan Review is triggered by a development application or use that is allowed “by right” but is subject to specific zoning standards.
County Clerk
Yolo
Attachments
Notice of Exemption
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