1144.03 USE REGULATIONS.
(a) General Standards. This section applies to all wireless telecommunications facilities independent of the zoning district in which they are to be located. These general standards are to be supplemented with the provisions for the particular applications specified in subsections (b) and (c) hereof which follow.
(1) Location.
A. No new wireless communications tower will be allowed within a two thousand five hundred (2,500) foot radius of an existing wireless tower. The Planning Commission may waive this requirement with the approval of Council for the purpose of the clustering of towers so long as the towers are visually compatible with the surrounding neighborhood.
B. The location of the tower and equipment building shall comply with all natural resource protection standards established in this chapter including floodplain, wetlands and steep slope regulations.
C. A tower may not be located on a building or structure that is listed on an historic register, or is in an historic district.
(2) Area. A minimum lot area of one (1) acre shall be required for a tower. In addition, lot area shall be sufficient to provide for all requirements of setbacks, yards, and building coverage as specified in the underlying zoning district.
(3) Tower type. Monopole or lattice wireless communication towers, which do not utilize guy wires, and their associated supporting buildings shall be allowed in the City. A wireless telecommunications tower which is supported by guy wires shall only be permitted if the applicant can prove that a monopole or lattice tower not requiring guy wires is not reasonably feasible, due to non-economic reasons, such as specific site conditions, or is required to provide wireless communications to a specific area that cannot be served by a guyless monopole tower. In the event guy wires are required to support the wireless telecommunications tower, the guy wires shall be considered part of the wireless telecommunications facility and shall meet all setback and yard requirements.
(4) Tower design. A Tower shall be designed to have sufficient structural capacity to allow for at least three (3) additional providers to be located on the structure when constructed to the maximum allowable height. Towers and antenna shall be designed to withstand sustained winds of at least 100 miles per hour with one-half (½) inch of icing. The wireless communication facility shall also be designed to show that the applicant has enough space on its site for an equipment building large enough to accommodate at least three (3) additional providers. If the equipment building is initially constructed to accommodate only one user, space shall be reserved on-site for equipment building expansion to accommodate up to at least three (3) additional providers.
(5) Equipment shelters/buildings. Underground equipment shelters are encouraged especially in non-industrial districts, and may be requested by the Planning Commission. In the event of co-location, all additional wireless telecommunications equipment shelters shall either be shared with all other providers utilizing the wireless telecommunications facility, or in the event such facility sharing is not feasible, any additional wireless telecommunications equipment shelters shall be attached to any existing shelter and shall be constructed of similar materials and utilize a design similar to any existing shelter located on such a property.
(6) Fencing. A security fence eight feet in height with barbed wire around the top shall completely surround the tower, equipment building and any guy wires.
(7) Buffer. Required buffer plantings shall be determined by the City Planner and the following minimum plantings shall be located around the perimeter of the security fence:
A. A landscaped buffer area of not less than fifteen (15) feet in depth shall be placed between the wireless telecommunication facilities and the public rights-of-way and any adjacent properties from which a direct view can be had of the facilities, other than the tower itself.
B. The fifteen (15) foot landscaped buffer area shall consist of an evergreen screen of either a solid six (6) foot hedge, or a row of evergreen trees planted and spaced no more than ten (10) feet apart. These trees and shrubs shall be planted in any configuration which will best serve to buffer the site.
C. Existing vegetation (trees and shrubs) shall be preserved to the maximum extent possible.
(8) Compatibility.
A. To the maximum extent possible, the entire facility must be aesthetically and architecturally compatible with the environment. The use of residentially compatible exterior materials such as wood, brick, or stucco is required for associated equipment buildings, which shall be designed to architecturally match the exterior of structures within the neighborhood. In no case will metal or concrete block exteriors be allowed for accessory buildings.
B. The tower itself must be of such design and treated with an architectural material so that it is camouflaged or blends in with surrounding uses so as to be visually compatible with the neighborhood. The tower shall be painted a non-contrasting gray or similar color minimizing its visibility, unless otherwise required by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) or Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
(9) Co-location. No new wireless communication facility may be erected if there is a technically suitable space for a wireless communication facility available on an existing wireless communication tower within the applicant's search area in which the new wireless communication antenna is to be located. With the permit application, the applicant shall list the location of every tower, building or structure that could support the proposed antenna so as to allow it to serve its intended function. The applicant must demonstrate that a technically suitable location is not reasonably available on an existing tower, building or structure and include the reasons therefor. If another communication tower is technically suitable, the applicant must show that it has requested to collocate on the existing tower and the co-location request was rejected by the owner of the tower along with the reasons for said rejection. In all circumstances, owners of existing towers shall promptly respond to requests for co-location, but in no event shall they respond in more than thirty (30) days from the date of receipt of written request for collocation. If another communication tower is technically suitable, the applicant must further show that it has offered to allow the owner of the other tower to co-locate an antenna on the applicant's tower on reciprocal terms and that the offer was not accepted.
(10) Arbitration of co-location disputes. As an additional condition of issuing the permit to construct and operate the tower in the City, the owner/operator of the tower is required to sign a statement that all disputes with other providers concerning co-location and the terms and conditions of co-location shall be submitted to commercial arbitration under a system selected by the parties but if the parties are unable to agree, then under the auspices of the Commercial Arbitration Provision of the American Arbitration Association.
(11) Discontinued use. If at any time the use of the facility is discontinued for one hundred eighty (180) days, a designated local official may declare the facility abandoned. The facility’s owner/operator will be contacted and instructed to either reactivate the facility’s use within sixty (60) days, or dismantle and remove the facility. If reactivation or dismantling does not occur within sixty (60) days, the permit shall automatically expire on the two hundred and forty first (241) day. In the event that a facility is abandoned, the City reserves the right, after written notice to the owner, to claim all right, title and interest in said facility for what ever use it deems appropriate.
(12) Bond. The owner or operator shall be required, as a condition of issuance of a zoning certificate, to post a cash or surety bond acceptable to the Director of Law of not less than two hundred fifty dollars ($250.00) per vertical foot from natural grade of the wireless telecommunication tower to the highest point or antenna which bond shall insure that an abandoned, obsolete or destroyed wireless communication antenna or tower shall be removed as provided in subsection (a)(11) hereof.
(13) Annual inspection. On each biennial anniversary date of the issuance of the zoning certificate for a wireless telecommunication facility, or not more than ninety (90) days prior thereto, the owner/operator user of such facility shall cause an inspection to be completed of the facility by a professional engineer registered in the State of Ohio, at the expense of the owner/operator/user, and a certificate as to the structural integrity and general safety of the entire wireless telecommunications facility and its components shall be issued by such engineer to the City Building Commissioner. Upon receipt of said certificate, the Building Commissioner shall inspect, or cause to have inspected, the facility for compliance with this chapter.
(14) Miscellaneous.
A. Advertising. No advertising is permitted anywhere on the facility.
B. Lighting. The tower shall not be artificially lighted except to assure safety or as required by the FAA.
C. Signage. Warning signs shall be posted around the facility with an emergency telephone number of whom to contact in the event of an emergency.
(15) Approvals. An application must be considered and approved by the Planning Commission and City Council with a subsequent Building Permit issued by the Building Commissioner.
(b) Permitted Use In Designated Overlay Districts. A wireless telecommunications facility is permitted as of right in those areas within the City zoned as a “T-1 Overlay District” which overlay districts have been determined to be areas where the erection of a wireless telecommunication facility will meet the spirit and intent of the chapter.
(c) Conditional Use. In a commercial, industrial, light manufacturing, or motor service districts, a wireless telecommunications facility may be approved as a conditional use subject to the following conditions:
(1) Sole use of a lot. A Wireless Telecommunications Tower is permitted as a sole use on a lot subject to the following:
A. Minimum yard requirements. The minimum distance from a parcel on which a tower is proposed to any single-family use or district lot line shall be equal to three (3) times the height of the tower. The minimum distance from a parcel on which a tower is proposed to a school/day care center/public park/residential lot line shall be equal to three (3) times the height of the tower. The minimum distance from a parcel on which a tower is proposed to any nearby structure not previously stated in this subsection shall be equal to three (3) times the height of the tower. All side, rear and setback requirements must be met.
B. The maximum height of a tower, including antenna, shall be that which does not require identification markers or painting by the Federal Aviation Administration.
C. The maximum size of equipment building shall be 300 square feet for a single shelter or, if there is more than one, than seven hundred and fifty (750) total square feet.
(2) Combined with another use. A wireless telecommunications facility is permitted on a property with an existing use, or on a vacant parcel subject to the following conditions:
A. The existing use on the property may be any permitted use in the district or any lawful nonconforming use, and need not be affiliated with the wireless telecommunications provider.
B. The wireless telecommunications facility shall be fully automated and unattended on a daily basis, and shall be visited only for periodic maintenance.
C. The minimum lot area shall be the area needed to accommodate the tower (and guy wires, if used), the equipment building, security fence and buffer planting. If the title to the land on which the wireless telecommunications facility is located is conveyed to the owner of the telecommunications facility, the land remaining with the principal lot shall continue to comply with the minimum lot area of the district.
D. Minimum yard requirements. The minimum distance from a tower to nearby structures shall be equal to the height of the tower. The minimum distance from a parcel on which a tower is proposed to school/day care center/public park/residential lot line shall be three hundred (300) feet.
All equipment buildings shall comply with the minimum tower setback requirements.
E. Vehicular access to the equipment building shall, whenever feasible, be provided along the circulation driveways of the existing use.
F. The maximum height of a tower, including antenna, shall be that which does not require identification markers or painting by the Federal Aviation Administration.
G. The maximum size of equipment building shall be three hundred (300) square feet.
(3) Combined with an existing structure: Where possible, an antenna for a wireless telecommunications facility shall be attached to an existing structure or building subject to the following conditions:
A. The maximum height of such a facility shall be twenty (20) feet or twenty percent (20%) of the building height above the existing building or structure, whichever is greater.
B. If the applicant proposes to locate the telecommunications equipment in a separate building, the building shall comply with the following:
1. The minimum setback requirements for the subject zoning district.
2. A buffer yard shall be planted in accordance with subsection (a)(7) hereof.
3. Vehicular access to the building shall not interfere with the parking or vehicular circulation on the site for the principal use.
C. Elevations of existing and proposed structures showing width, depth, height of the telecommunications facility and the statistical use date on the antenna and support structure shall be presented.
(Ord. 1997-21. Passed 5-13-97; Ord. 2003-11. Passed 4-8-03.)
D. Where it is determined by the Planning Commission that an antenna will be visible from street level, the applicant shall provide appropriate screening, and/or some other similar device, to conceal the visible nature of the antenna.
(Ord. 2004-17. Passed 6-8-04.)