A. The purpose of this section is to:
(1) Accommodate the need for communications antennas, communications ancillary equipment, and communications towers while regulating location and use in the Borough.
(2) Establish procedures for design, siting, construction, installation, maintenance, and removal of communications antennas, communications ancillary equipment, and communications towers in the Borough, including facilities located both inside and outside of the public rights-of-way.
(3) Minimize adverse visual effects of communications antennas, communications ancillary equipment, and communications towers on the surrounding landscape by methods including but not limited to the use of stealth technology, proper placement and co-location.
(4) Avoid potential damage to adjacent properties from structural failure of buildings or towers due to the placement of communications antennas, and provide for any other measures deemed necessary to promote the health, safety, and welfare of the Borough residents, property owners, visitors, and businesses.
(5) Accommodate new wireless technologies, including, but not limited to, Distributed Antenna Systems, Data Collection Units, and similar Small Cell Communications Systems that may arise with further technological advances in the communications industry.
(6) Encourage the co-location of communication antennas on existing towers, buildings, and other structures that are structurally capable of supporting the antennas, rather than constructing new communications towers.
(7) Comply with all provisions and requirements of the Pennsylvania Wireless Broadband Collocation Act, as may be amended, and any other applicable State and/or Federal regulations governing communication antennas and supporting structures.
B. General design requirements for all communications antenna, communications ancillary equipment and supporting structures, including building-mounted communications antenna and communications towers.
(1) Permit and approval requirements.
(a) A zoning permit and a building permit shall be required for all newly- constructed or structurally modified communications antenna, communications ancillary equipment and supporting structures, except that a building permit shall not be required for communications antennas that are to be supported by an existing utility pole, streetlight, traffic light or other structure that is not subject to approval under the Borough Construction Code. All construction documents submitted with a permit application shall be signed and sealed by a Pennsylvania- registered Professional Engineer, Architect, and/or Land Surveyor, as appropriate.
(b) Applicant shall be required to obtain all necessary approvals from PennDOT and public utility companies for installation of a communications antenna on their utility or service structures. Evidence of said approvals shall be submitted to the Borough prior to the issuance of a zoning permit for the use.
(c) Prior to the issuance of a zoning permit and a building permit for the construction of a freestanding communications tower as a principal use on a lot, applicants must receive approval of a Subdivision and/or Land Development plan from the Borough Council. The plan shall comply with requirements of Chapter 22, Subdivision and Land Development.
(2) All communications antenna and supporting structures shall be designed, constructed, operated, maintained, repaired, modified, and removed in strict compliance with all current and applicable technical, safety, and safety- related codes in effect at the time of such action, including, but not limited to, the Borough's Code of Ordinances, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Code, the National Electrical Safety Code, and the National Electrical Code, as well as the accepted industry practices of the National Association of Tower Erectors. Applicant shall submit detailed construction and elevation drawings indicating how the communications antenna will be mounted on the tower as well as documents certifying that the communications antenna and supporting structure is designed to withstand the effects of wind according to the standard designated by ANSI, prepared by the engineering departments of the Electronics Industry Association and Telecommunications Industry Association (ANSI/EIA-222-E, as amended). Where conflict may occur between the codes, the most stringent requirement shall apply.
(3) All communications antenna, communications ancillary equipment and supporting structures, shall be kept and maintained in good condition, order, and repair by qualified maintenance and construction personnel so that the same shall not endanger the life of any person or any property in the Borough. The owner of the communications antenna, communications ancillary equipment and supporting structures shall perform a minimum of one on-site inspection each year. The owner shall provide the Borough with advance notice of the inspection. The on-site inspection shall include a climb of the supporting structure, or other accepted industry standard of inspection, and a written report, prepared by a Pennsylvania-registered professional engineer, detailing the results of the on-site inspection, including the "climbing inspection", or other accepted industry standard of inspection. The report shall be submitted to the Borough within 30 days of the inspection. In the event the inspection reveals any issues with the structural integrity of the communications antenna or other facility, the owner of the communications antenna or other facility shall, within 30 days, take any and all steps necessary to repair the facility and submit a final report to the Borough, indicating the nature of the repairs made. The report shall include a certification of structural integrity by a Pennsylvania-registered professional engineer. Failure to make the necessary repairs and submit a certification of structural integrity within 30 days of the original inspection shall result in the revocation of the zoning and building permit and shall require the prompt removal of the communications antenna, communications ancillary equipment and supporting structure, or portion thereof.
(4) Communications antennas, communications ancillary equipment and supporting structures shall comply with all applicable standards established by the Federal Communications Commission governing human exposure to electromagnetic radiation. Evidence of compliance to these standards shall be submitted by the applicant to the Borough with the permit application.
(5) The owner or operator of a communications antenna shall be licensed by the Federal Communications Commission to operate such an antenna.
(6) No communications antenna shall interfere with public safety communications or the reception of broadband, television, radio, or other communication services enjoyed by persons within the Borough.
(7) No signs or lights shall be mounted on or be directed at a communications antenna except as may be required by the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Aviation Administration, the National Electric Code, or any other governmental agency which has jurisdiction.
(8) Communications antennas shall comply with all applicable Federal Aviation Administration, Commonwealth Bureau of Aviation, and applicable Airport Safety Zone Overlay District regulations.
(9) All supporting structures shall be fitted with anti-climbing devices or otherwise be designed to be unclimbable if located in a manner that would enable unrestricted access to the tower. In-lieu of the anti-climbing devices, the supporting structure may be located within the fenced compound area required by §27-1124.B.(10).(b).
(10) Ground-mounted communications ancillary equipment compounds.
(a) Ground-mounted communications ancillary equipment compounds may be established as part of the communications antenna. The equipment and structures within the compound shall comply with the yard area requirements of the underlying zoning district in which the equipment compound is to be located. Where yard areas have been established for a detached accessory use, the equipment structures shall comply with these requirements so long as the equipment is to be freestanding or attached to another accessory use structure. Where no setbacks have been established for a detached accessory use, or if the equipment structures are attached to a principal use structure, the setbacks shall comply with the underlying zoning district for a principal use. A communications tower is to be considered a principal use structure.
(b) A fence shall be required around the entire communications ancillary equipment compound and shall be a minimum height of 8 feet. The fence shall be consistent with the provisions of §27-1107 of this chapter. Gates shall be locked, except during such times as the communications equipment is manned by operations or maintenance personnel.
(c) An evergreen screen shall be required to surround the communications ancillary equipment compound. The screen shall consist of a row of evergreen trees which shall be planted at a maximum spacing of 8 feet, center to center. The evergreen screen shall be a minimum height of 4 feet at planting and shall be a species that is expected to grow to a minimum height of 15 feet at maturity. In addition, existing vegetation which would aid in screening at and around the site shall be preserved to the greatest extent possible.
(d) This section shall not apply to ground-mounted communications ancillary equipment compounds located within a public street right-of- way.
(11) Parking and access requirements.
(a) A minimum of one paved off-street parking space shall be provided on the site on which the communications antenna is located, in accordance with the provisions of §27-1202 of this chapter. The parking space shall be in addition to the minimum number of spaces currently required by §27-1202 of this chapter for other uses which may exist on the site.
(b) Any applicant proposing a communications antenna to be co-located on a supporting structure shall submit agreements and/or easements necessary to provide access to the supporting structure on which the communications antenna is to be attached to confirm that installation and maintenance of the communications antenna can be accomplished.
(12) All communications antennas and communications ancillary equipment compounds, or portion thereof, that is no longer in use for its approved purpose shall be removed at the owner's expense. The owner shall provide the Borough with a copy of any notice to the Federal Communications Commission of intent to cease operations. If the facility remains unused for a period of 6 consecutive months, the owner or operator of the antenna and communications ancillary equipment facilities shall, within a maximum of 90 days after the end of the 6-month period, remove the communications antenna, its support structure, and all accessory uses and equipment. In the case of multiple operations sharing the use of a single communications tower, this provision shall not become effective until all users cease operations.
(13) All communications antennas and supporting structures that are located within a Borough street right-of-way are subject to the Borough's right to annually fix a fair and reasonable compensation to be paid for use and occupancy of the street right-of-way. Such compensation for street right-of- way use shall be directly related to the Borough's actual management costs including, but not limited to, the costs of the administration and performance of all reviewing, inspecting, permitting, supervising, and other management activities by the Borough. The owner of each communications tower; and when co-located, each communications antenna, shall pay an annual fee to compensate the Borough for the costs incurred in connection with the activities described above. The annual street right-of-way management fee for communications towers shall be determined by the Borough and authorized by resolution of the Borough Council.
(14) All proposed supporting structures for a communications antennas shall be designed in all respects to accommodate both the applicant's communications antenna and future co-location of additional comparable antenna, so that the co-location of a future communications antenna will not create a violation of any applicable requirement of this Chapter.
(15) Stealth design methods shall be required for all communications antennas, communications ancillary equipment and supporting structures. Acceptable methods shall include, but not be limited to, visual screening, concealment in existing, proposed or mock buildings, structures or facades, blending the design of the facilities through use of materials and colors of the existing supporting structure or to the visual character of structures or landscape located in close proximity to the proposed facilities. Where it can be demonstrated to the satisfaction of the Zoning Officer that stealth design is technologically or commercially impracticable or infeasible, a communications antenna supporting structure shall be a low gloss light blue, light green or light gray color unless other colors will blend better with the building's façade walls and are approved by the Borough, or are otherwise required by Federal Communications Commission or Federal Aviation Administration regulations.
(16) Each person that owns or operates a communications antenna, tower, communications ancillary equipment, or portion thereof, shall, as its sole cost and expense, indemnify, defend and hold harmless the Borough, its elected and appointed officials, employees and agents, at all times against any and all claims for personal injury, including death, and property damage arising in whole or in part from, caused by or connected with any act or omission of the person, its officers, agents, employees or contractors arising out of, but not limited to, the construction, installation, operation, maintenance, or removal of the communications antenna, tower or ancillary equipment, or portion thereof. Each person that owns or operates a communications antenna, tower, ancillary equipment, or portion thereof, shall defend any actions or proceedings against the Borough in which is claimed that personal injury, including death, or property damage was caused by the construction, installation, operation, maintenance or removal of a communications antenna, tower, ancillary equipment or portion thereof. The obligation to indemnify, hold harmless and defend shall include, but not be limited to, the obligation to pay judgments, injuries, liabilities, damages, reasonable attorneys' fees, reasonable expert fees, court costs and all other costs of indemnification.
(17) Each person that owns or operates a communication antenna, tower, ancillary equipment, or portion thereof, shall sign a statement of acknowledgment of their obligation to meet the requirements of this Chapter, including, but not necessarily limited to, the maintenance and construction of new communications antenna, towers and ancillary equipment, and the removal of said unused facilities, as well as the indemnification of the Borough in the construction, installation, operation, maintenance, or removal of said facilities, prior to the issuance of a zoning and/or building permit.
C. Building-mounted communications antenna. Building-mounted communications antennas shall be a permitted use in all zoning districts other than Residential R-1, R-2, R-3 and Neighborhood Commercial Districts, in accordance with the following:
(1) Height requirements. Building-mounted communications antennas shall be kept to the minimum height needed to function in accordance with industry standards; however, in no case shall the communications antenna exceed the height of the building by a maximum of 50% of the actual building height; provided, that in no situation shall the communications antenna and supporting structure exceed the height of a building that is nonconforming with respect to the currently permitted building height of the underlying zoning district by more than 20 feet.
(2) Applicant shall submit evidence from a Pennsylvania registered professional engineer certifying that the proposed installation of a building-mounted communications antenna, its communications ancillary equipment and supporting structures or other devices, will not exceed the structural capacity of the building when considering ice and snow loads as referenced in the prevailing Borough Construction Code.
(3) Communications ancillary equipment may be building-mounted, provided the equipment is not located on a street facing façade wall, and will comply with the setback, screening and landscaping requirements for a ground-mounted communications ancillary equipment compound identified in §27-1124.B(10). The landscaping and screening requirements shall not apply if the equipment is located at least 8 feet off of the ground and the materials of the equipment will comply with the stealth design methods identified in §27-1124.B.(15).
(4) Building-mounted communications antenna shall not be located on a building (or structure) that is listed on either the National or Pennsylvania Registers of Historic Places, or is eligible to be so listed, or is listed on an official registry of historic structures maintained by the Borough, if such list is maintained, or has been otherwise designated by the Borough to be of historical significance.
D. Communications towers that are 40 feet or less in height. Communications towers that meet this criteria are permitted in the C-I Zoning District, in accordance with the following regulations:
(1) Applicant shall demonstrate compliance with the general design requirements of §27-1124.B, in addition to the requirements of this Section.
(2) Location and setback requirements.
(a) Communications antennas shall not be permitted within a public street right-of-way that is adjacent to any Residential R-1, R-2, R-3 and Neighborhood Commercial zoning districts. Under these circumstances, communications antennas shall be located on existing utility poles, traffic signals, or streetlights. This shall include utility poles that are located inside or outside of a street right-of-way.
(b) Communications antennas that are to be located in the public street right-of-way shall not be permitted on any lamppost-style streetlight.
(c) Newly constructed communications towers that will be constructed outside of the street right-of-way shall have a minimum yard area, for all yards, that is equal to the height of the tower, including all antennas.
(d) Communications towers outside of the street right-of-way shall be located a minimum of 175 feet from any lands within the Residential R-1, R-2, R-3 and Neighborhood Commercial zoning districts, as well as a minimum of 175 feet from an existing dwelling or a dwelling lot approved by the Borough as part of a subdivision or land development plan.
(3) Communications Ancillary Equipment shall comply with the following:
(a) Communications towers that are outside of a street right-of-way may contain a ground-mounted communications ancillary equipment compound that complies with §27-1124.B (10).
(b) Communications towers that are located within a street right-of-way shall contain communications ancillary equipment installed in a manner that will not inhibit pedestrian or vehicular movement, or otherwise create safety hazards to, or inconvenience the use of, the street right-of-way by pedestrians and motorists. All equipment shall be mounted on the tower structure unless the applicant can demonstrate that this is not structurally feasible, in which case the equipment shall be buried underground. As a last resort, if burying the ancillary equipment underground is not possible due to the location of existing improvements in the street right-of-way, then ground-mounted structures may be utilized, but shall not exceed 4 square feet or 84 inches in height.
(4) Additional design requirements.
(a) New communications towers constructed within the street right-of- way shall comply with the requirements of this Part to the greatest extent possible.
(b) If the communications antenna and ancillary equipment are placed on an existing streetlight, traffic light or utility pole; the communications antenna and communications ancillary equipment shall be painted, coated, or otherwise treated to match the existing supporting structure.
(c) All materials of communications towers in the street right-of-way shall be subject to approval by the Borough.
E. Communications towers in excess of 40 feet in height. Communications towers in excess of 40 feet in height shall be permitted by special exception in the C-I Zoning District, in accordance with the requirements of this Chapter.
F. Co-location of communications antennas. Communications antennas that are to be located on another tower, building, or suitable structure that already contains an existing communications antenna shall be permitted in all zoning districts in accordance with the following requirements:
(1) Administrative review requirements.
(a) Applicant must provide a submittal package to the Borough including a cover letter, site plan, and supporting documents indicating the intent to co-locate a communications antenna on an existing structure, in order to initiate the administrative review process. Within 30 calendar days of receiving the submittal package, the Borough shall notify the applicant in writing of any additional information required to complete the administrative review.
(b) Within 90 calendar days of the date of the Borough's receipt of the submittal package, the Borough shall make a final decision on the administrative review and advise the applicant of the decision in writing. The time taken by the applicant to provide any additional information to the Borough shall not be counted toward the 90-calendar-day review period. This review period may be extended, if agreed to in writing by both parties.
(c) This administrative review shall include a determination as to whether or not the co-location of a new communications antenna or modification to an existing communications antenna will require a building permit in addition to the required zoning permit. If a building permit is required, the review period for the permit shall be in addition to this administrative review process and shall be completed in accordance with Chapter 5 of the Borough's Code of Ordinances. A building permit shall not be required for replacement of an existing antenna, provided the applicant submits the required information to demonstrate compliance with this Section.
(2) Required information.
(a) Elevation details shall be submitted to demonstrate the co-location of the communications antenna will not increase the height of the approved supporting structure by more than 20 feet, provided the following requirements are met:
[1] Communications towers that are permitted by §27-1124.D, shall not exceed a height of 40 feet.
[2] Communications towers that are permitted under §27-1124.E, may exceed the height in accordance with this Section, provided that the applicant has sufficient yard areas from all property lines that is equidistant to the height of the communications tower.
[3] The permitted height increase for a building-mounted communications antenna shall be measured from the actual building height, not from the height of any existing communications antennas.
(b) Applicant shall submit detailed construction drawings indicating how the communications antenna will be mounted on the supporting structure, or portion thereof, as well as documents certifying that the communications antenna is designed to withstand the effects of wind and structural loading requirements of applicable technical, safety, and safety-related codes, including, but not limited to, the Borough's Code of Ordinances, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Code, as amended, the National Electrical Safety Code, as amended, and the National Electrical Code, as amended. Where conflict may occur between the codes, the most stringent requirement shall apply.
(c) A site plan shall be submitted to show property and lease lines, existing and proposed access drives, communications ancillary equipment compounds, or other site changes required to operate the co-located communications antenna. Any increase in dimensions to the communications ancillary equipment compound shall meet all applicable setback requirements and the requirements of Chapter 174, Stormwater Management, as applicable to the project.
(Ord. 2016-01, 8/2/2016, §3)