The provisions of this Article shall be known as the Wireless Communication Facilities regulations. It is the purpose of these provisions to delineate restrictions, development standards and siting criteria, and establish removal procedures in order to protect the City from the uncontrolled siting of wireless communication facilities in locations that have significant adverse effects and cause irreparable harm. It is further the purpose of these provisions:
A. To protect the community’s visual quality and safety while facilitating the reasonable and balanced provision of wireless communication services. More specifically, it is the City’s goal to minimize the visual impact of wireless communication facilities on the community, particularly in and near residential zoning districts and historic districts and landmarks;
B. To promote and protect the public health, safety and welfare, preserve the aesthetic character of the Grand Island community, and to reasonably regulate the development and operation of wireless communication facilities within the City to the extent permitted under state and federal law;
C. To minimize the impact of wireless communication facilities by establishing standards for siting design;
D. To preserve the opportunity for continued and growing service from the wireless industry;
E. To accommodate the growing consumer need and demand for wireless communication services;
F. To establish clear guidelines and standards and an orderly process for review intended to facilitate the deployment of wireless transmission equipment, to provide advanced communication services to the City, its residents, businesses and the community at large;
G. To ensure City zoning regulations are applied consistently with federal and state telecommunications laws, rules, regulations and controlling court decisions;
H. To provide regulations which are specifically not intended to, and shall not be interpreted or applied to, (1) prohibit or effectively prohibit the provision of wireless services, (2) unreasonably discriminate among functionally equivalent service providers, or (3) regulate wireless communication facilities and wireless transmission equipment on the basis of the environmental effects of radio frequency emissions to the extent that such emissions comply with the standards established by the Federal Communications Commission; and
I. To incorporate the legislative findings and declarations in Nebraska Revised Statute 86-1202.