MIAMI — Frank Carollo, a longtime member of the City Council here, had worked for several weeks fine-tuning a proposal to limit the use of recreational drones, the increasingly popular remote-controlled flying devices. Minutes before the start of the vote on the rules this month, lawyers from the Federal Aviation Administration called him.

The lawyers said the Miami ordinance needed to make clear that the federal agency had ultimate control over airspace. Not wanting to delay the vote, Mr. Carollo complied, deleting requirements about permitting that would have duplicated those by the F.A.A., before getting the new law approved unanimously by the City Council.

“People we had not spoken to at the F.A.A. and at companies suddenly called for amendments,” Mr. Carollo said after the vote. “But there had been a void on public safety and the use of drones. We understand the F.A.A. regulates drones, but the F.A.A. doesn’t have bodies on the ground to enforce their rules. That is why I believed Miami had to have its own rules.”

The interjection by the federal lawyers — the first substantive conversation Mr. Carollo had with federal officials about his proposal — foreshadowed a message that the agency would send more widely just days later. The F.A.A. said it was in charge of anything in the air. The agency took the position as part of an introduction of new recreational drone rules, which included requiring users to register in a national database starting this month.