(A) Tower construction requirements. It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to erect, construct in a place, re-erect or replace any tower without first making application to the County Code Administrator and securing a permit therefor as herein provided.
(1) The applicant shall provide at the time of application sufficient information to indicate that construction, installation and maintenance of the antenna and tower will not create a safety hazard, damage to or interference with the property of other persons.
(2) The extent to which the design of the proposed facility reflects compliance with the following: No building or tower that is part of a facility should encroach onto any recorded easement prohibiting the encroachment unless the grantees of the easement have given their approval.
(3) Lighting should be installed for security and safety purposes only. Except with respect to lighting required by the FCC or FAA, all lighting should be shielded so that no glare extends substantially beyond the boundaries of a facility.
(4) No facility shall encroach onto an existing septic field.
(5) Any facility located in a special flood hazard area or wetland shall meet the legal requirements for those lands.
(6) Existing trees more than three inches in diameter should be preserved if reasonable feasible during construction. If a tree more than three inches in diameter is removed during construction, a tree three inches or more in diameter of the same or similar species shall be planted as a replacement if reasonably feasible. Tree diameter shall be measured at a point three feet above the ground level.
(7) If any elevation of a facility faces an existing, adjoining residential use within a residential area, low maintenance landscaping should be provided on or near the facility lot to provide at least partial screening of the facility. The quantity and type of that landscaping should be in accordance with any county landscaping regulations of general applicability, except that division (A)(5) above shall control over any tree-related regulations imposing a greater burden.
(8) Fencing shall be installed around a facility. The height and materials of the fencing shall be at least six feet in height and in accordance with any county fence regulations.
(9) WCF with support structures shall be constructed to the Telecommunications Industries Association ANSI/TIA-222-H Revision F Standard entitled “Structural Standards for Steel Antennas, Towers and Antenna Support Structures” (or equivalent), as it may be updated and amended from time to time. Each support structure shall be capable of supporting multiple antenna arrays. The tower shall be certified by a qualified and state-licensed professional engineer to conform to the latest structural standards and wind loading requirements of the International Building Code and the National Electric Code as adopted by the County Board.
(10) Written documentation under a state-licensed engineer’s stamp to verify the need for a guy-wire support tower when no other means of support structure is available due to technical or engineering constraints.
(11) With the exception of necessary electric and telephone service connection lines, no part of any antenna or tower, nor any lines, cable, equipment, wires or braces in connection with either, shall at any time extend across or over any part of the right-of-way, public street, highway, sidewalk or property line.
(12) All signal and remote control conductors of low energy extending substantially horizontally above the ground between a tower and antenna and a structure, or between towers, shall be at least eight feet above the ground at all points unless buried underground.
(13) Towers shall comply with all applicable provisions of this code of ordinances; an ordinance providing for the control of stormwater drainage and detention, soil erosion, and sediment control within the unincorporated areas of the county, being Chapter 153 of this code of ordinances; an ordinance regulating development in the county floodplain areas, being Chapter 152 of this code of ordinances; and the International Property Maintenance Code as adopted by the County Board, being §§ 150.150 through 150.162.
(14) Antennas and towers in existence as of the adoption date of this subchapter which do not conform to or comply with this subchapter are subject to the following provisions:
(a) Towers may continue in use for the purpose now used and as now existing, but may not be replaced or structurally altered without complying in all respects with this subchapter; and
(b) If such towers are hereafter damaged or destroyed, due to any reason or cause whatsoever, the tower may be repaired and restored to its former use, location and physical dimensions upon obtaining a building permit therefor, but without otherwise complying with this section, provided however, that if the cost of repairing the tower to the former use, physical dimensions and location would be 10% or more of the cost of a new tower of like kind and quality, then the tower may not be repaired or restored, except in full in compliance with this subchapter.
(B) Tower setbacks. Towers shall conform to the following minimum setback requirements:
(1) Notwithstanding the general provisions of the applicable provisions of the IBC Code and the Subdivision Ordinance, being Chapter 156 of this code of ordinances, the required setback for a facilities supporting structure or equipment housing shall not be less than 35 feet from the front lot line of the facility lot or less than 15 feet from any other lot line;
(2) Tower separation shall be at least 1,500 feet between new wireless communication towers; and
(3) Separation distance to the nearest principal residential building or structure located on the same parcel shall not be less than the height of the supporting structure.
(C) Tower height.
(1) No new telecommunication facility shall exceed 200 feet in height, except that if the facility is located more than one and one-half miles from the corporate limits of any municipality with a population of 25,000 or more, the height of the facility shall not exceed 350 feet. This includes antennas and other supporting equipment.
(2) The horizontal separation distance to the nearest principal building or structure on the same parcel shall not be less than the height of the supporting structure.
(3) Above-ground equipment buildings shall be required to obtain a building permit. The maximum size shall be 700 square feet and the maximum height shall be 12 feet.
(4) A variation to this height may be granted by the County Board after receiving an application to request a variation through the Public Safety Committee, therefore holding a public meeting. The Public Safety Committee shall make its recommendation to the County Board at a regular scheduled meeting. The applicant must establish a clear and convincing evidence that he, she or it will be unable to provide wireless communication services without such a variation. Under no circumstances shall a tower be erected to a height greater than that required to provide wireless communication services.
(5) A new or replacement antenna array may exceed up to five feet horizontally beyond the edge of the attachment structure so long as the antenna array does not encroach upon an adjoining parcel.
(D) Co-location requirements.
(1) Licensed carriers shall share personal telecommunication facilities and sites whenever possible, thereby reducing the number of stand-alone facilities.
(2) All support structures shall be designed so as not to preclude co-location.
(3) Applicants shall demonstrate a good faith effort to co-locate with other carriers. Such good faith effort includes demonstration by the applicant to:
(a) Contract with other licensed carriers for commercial mobile radio services operating in the county;
(b) Share information necessary to determine if co-location is feasible under the design configuration most accommodating to co-location;
(c) Provide a written statement indicating the reasons why the telecommunication project is not feasible as a co-location Site I the event co-location is found not to be feasible; and
(d) Design and construct WCFs in a manner to allow future WCF co-location opportunities, if feasible.
(4) The wireless provider shall install, maintain, repair and modify its small wireless facilities in a safe condition and good repair and in compliance with this subchapter.
(5) The maximum height of a small wireless facility shall be not more than ten feet above the support structure on which the small wireless facility is co-located, or 45 feet above the ground.
(6) The wireless provider’s operation of the small wireless facilities shall not interfere with the frequencies used by a public safety agency for public safety communications. Unacceptable interference will be determined by and measured in accordance with industry standards and the FCC’s regulations addressing unacceptable interference to public safety spectrum or any other spectrum licensed by a public safety agency. The wireless provider, at its own expense, shall remedy the interference win a manner consistent with the abatement and resolution procedures for interference with public safety spectrum established by the FCC, including 47 C.F.R. §§ 22.970 through 22.973 and 47 C.F.R. §§ 90.672 through 90.675.
(E) Tower lighting. Towers shall not be illuminated by artificial means and shall not display any strobe or flashing lights unless such lighting is required by the Federal Aviation Administration or other federal or state authority for a particular tower.
(F) Accessory utility buildings. All utility buildings and structures accessory to a tower shall require a building permit be issued by the County Code Administrator for the installation of all structures.
(G) Abandoned or unused towers or portions of towers. Abandoned or unused towers or portions of towers shall be removed as follows.
(1) Within 30 days of its filing with the FCC, the owner of any telecommunications facility shall provide the building official with a copy of any notice of its intent to cease operations. Unless an extension is obtained from the building official, the telecommunications tower and accessory structures shall be removed within 90 days of the date operations cease.
(2) A copy of the relevant portions of a signed lease which requires the applicant to remove the tower and associated facilities upon cessation of operations at the site shall be submitted at the time of application. In the event that a tower is not removed in a timely manner as provided herein, the tower and associated facilities may be removed by the county and the cost of the removal assessed as a lien on the premises or against a bond or other financial security provided for herein.
(3) A wireless provider shall provide to the County Code Administrator with written notice if it sells or transfers small wireless facilities within the jurisdictional boundary of the county. Such notice shall include the name and contact information of the new wireless provider.
(Ord. 11-21, passed 11-9-2021) Penalty, see 150.999