A. Zoning Review Process. The Wireless Permit shall be subject to the following application review process:
1. Submittal. FCC regulations provide safe harbor time periods and completeness requirements that apply to all approvals relating to wireless facility deployments. Applicants are encouraged to provide all related applications in one submittal.
a. Voluntary Pre-submittal Conference. The City strongly encourages, but does not require, applicants to schedule and attend a pre-submittal conference with the Director and other City staff. This voluntary, pre-submittal conference does not cause the FCC Shot Clock to begin and is intended to streamline the review process.
b. Incomplete Applications Deemed Automatically Withdrawn. Any application governed under this Code shall be automatically deemed denied if the applicant fails to submit a substantive response to the Director within 120 calendar days after the Director deems the application incomplete by written notice. As used in this subsection 3, a “substantive response” must include, at a minimum, the complete materials identified as incomplete in the written incomplete notice. An application deemed automatically denied shall be denied without prejudice. A follow-on application for the same location may be resubmitted at no additional cost within six months of the denied application.
2. Notices of Discretionary Decisions. No notice is required to be provided prior to a decision on a ministerial permit application. In addition to any noticing that may be required by Section 15.66 (for Zoning Administrator Decisions) notices of an upcoming discretionary Director, Zoning Administrator or City Manager Wireless Permit decision shall be provided to the applicant and all property owners within 300 feet of the proposed facility. At least ten calendar days prior to the public hearing, notice of the upcoming discretionary Director, Zoning Administrator or City Manager Wireless Permit decisions shall be mailed to the applicant and owners of property within three-hundred feet of the boundaries of the proposed facility, as shown on the last equalized assessment roll or, alternatively, from such other records as contain more recent addresses. At least ten calendar days prior to the public hearing, a notice of the hearing shall be posted at the project site in clear public view.
3. Written Decision. If the Director, Zoning Administrator or City Manager acts on a discretionary Wireless Permit application ( with or without prejudice) for a wireless facility, the decision must be written and state the reasons for the action. The City will post any such notice on the City’s website.
4. Appeals of Director Decisions on Small Wireless Facilities. Any affected person or entity may appeal a decision of the Director made pursuant to this Chapter 15.53 to the City Manager.
a. Appeal Fee. The City Council may establish and amend the amount of such appeal by resolution.
b. The decision of the City Manager shall be final and cannot be referred to, appealed to or called for review to either the Planning Commission or City Council.
c. Appeals from an approval shall not be permitted when based solely on the environmental effects of radio frequency emissions if such facilities comply with the Federal Communication Commission’s regulations concerning such emissions.
d. An application for appeal of a Director decision hereunder must be filed within three calendar days after the date the written decision being appealed was posted to the City' s website. If the final day for filing an application for appeal falls on a holiday or weekend day when city hall is closed, the application shall be filed no later than the next business day. The application for appeal must contain a short and plain statement about the basis for the appeal, which may be supplemented after the appeal period has expired but before the appeal is considered.
e. The City Manager shall consider appeals de novo.
f. The City Manager is directed to issue the applicant written notice of the decision and to post the decision on the City’s website within five calendar days of issuance of the decision.
5. Appeals of Zoning Administrator Decisions. Any affected person or entity may appeal a decision of the Zoning Administrator made pursuant to this Chapter 15.53 to the Planning Commission.
a. Appeal Fee. The City Council may establish and amend the amount of such appeal by resolution.
b. Such decisions of the Planning Commission may be made to the Planning Commission, which decision may not be subsequently appealed to, or called for review by, City Council.
c. Appeals from an approval shall not be permitted when based solely on the environmental effects of radio frequency emissions to the extent that such facilities comply with the Federal Communication Commission’s regulations concerning such emissions.
d. An application for appeal must be filed within three calendar days after the date the City posted the written decision to the City’s website. The application for appeal must contain a short and plain statement about the basis for the appeal, which may be supplemented after the appeal period has expired but before the appeal hearing.
e. The Planning Commission shall hear appeals de novo.
f. The Director is directed to issue the applicant written notice of the decision and post the decision on the city' s website within five calendar days of issuance of the decision.
B. Concurrent Review by Public Works Department. The Director is authorized to:
1. Process applications for encroachment permits concurrently with applications for Wireless Permits if the applicant signs an agreement on a form acceptable to the City Attorney in which the applicant agrees to hold the city harmless from any responsibilities, including but not limited to, any costs associated with concurrent processing. However, the Director shall not authorize the installation of fiber optic or other similar cabling in the street unless either (a) the wireless facilities for which such cabling is associated have been substantially installed or (b) the applicant has provided the city financial guarantees sufficient to ensure the full removal of such cabling and repair of the street if such wireless facilities are not installed.
2. Act on and grant approvals of encroachment permits related to wireless telecommunications facilities in the public right-of-way that have obtained an approval of a Wireless Permit.
3. Forward any request for a permit related to a wireless telecommunications facility in the public right-of-way to the Director for review. The application process for these referrals to the Director shall be subject to the same procedures, purpose, conditions, review criteria and findings as described for a Wireless Permit.
(Ord. 3315 § 2 (part), 2022)