(a) Standard Conditions of Approval. Permission to site small cell facilities and wireless support structures in the right-of-way shall be conditioned on compliance with the standard conditions of approval provided in this ordinance. The Mayor may add or modify conditions of approval as necessary or appropriate to protect and promote the public health, safety, and welfare.
(b) Small Cell Facility Permit Duration. The municipality's approval term of an attachment to a wireless support structure shall be for a period of not less than ten years, with presumption of renewal for successive five-year terms, subject to terms providing for early termination or nonrenewal for cause or by mutual agreement and unless otherwise agreed to by both the operator and the municipality, except for generally applied permitting to safeguard the public health, safety, and welfare. An operator may remove its small cell facilities at any time subject to applicable permit requirements and may stop paying annual charges or fees.
(c) Compliance with All Applicable Laws.
(1) Permittee shall at all times maintain compliance with all applicable federal, state and local laws, regulations, ordinances, or other rules.
(2) If state or federal standards and regulations are amended, the owners of the small cell facilities and/or wireless support structures governed by this section shall bring any facilities and/or structures into compliance with the revised standards and regulations within six (6) months of the effective date of the standards and regulations, unless a different compliance schedule is mandated by the regulating agency. Failure to bring small cell facilities and/or wireless support structures into compliance with any revised standards and regulations shall constitute grounds for removal at the owner's expense.
(d) Inspections; Emergencies. The municipality or its designee may inspect small cell facilities and wireless support structures in the right-of-way upon reasonable notice to the permittee. The permittee shall cooperate with all inspections. The municipality reserves the right to support, repair, disable, or remove any elements of the facility in emergencies or when the facility threatens imminent harm to persons or property.
(e) Relocation or adjustment as requested by municipality. If requested by the municipality, in order to accomplish construction and maintenance activities directly related to improvements for the health, safety, and welfare of the public, an operator shall relocate or adjust its facilities within the right-of-way at no cost to the municipality, as long as such request similarly binds all users in or on such public way. Such relocation or adjustment shall be completed in accordance with law.
(f) Contact Information for Responsible Parties. Permittee shall at all times maintain accurate contact information for all parties responsible for the facility, which shall include a phone number, street mailing address, and email address for at least one natural person. All such contact information for responsible parties shall be provided to the municipality.
(g) Indemnification. Any operator who owns or operates small cell facilities or wireless support structures in the right-of-way shall indemnify, protect, defend, and hold the municipality and its elected officials, officers, employees, agents, and volunteers harmless against any and all claims, lawsuits, judgments, costs, liens, losses, expenses, fees to include reasonable attorney fees and costs of defense, proceedings, actions, demands, causes of action, liability and suits of any kind and nature, including personal or bodily injury or death, property damage or other harm for which recovery of damages is sought, to the extent that it is caused by the negligence of the operator who owns or operates small cell facilities and wireless service in the right-of-way, any agent, officer, representative, employee, affiliate, or subcontractor of the operator, or their respective officers, agents, employees, or representatives while installing, repairing, or maintaining facilities in the right-of-way.
(h) Interference with Public Safety Radio Services. In occupying or using the right-of-way, no person shall unreasonably compromise the public health, safety, and welfare. Permittees shall comply with the applicable provisions of 47 CFR §§ 22.970-973 and 47 CFR §§ 90.672-675 respectively, which define unacceptable interference, state the obligations of licensees to abate unacceptable interference, provide interference resolution procedures, and set forth a discretionary information exchange between public safety licensees and other licensees.
(i) Adverse Physical Impacts on Adjacent Properties. Permittee shall undertake all reasonable efforts to avoid undue adverse physical impacts to adjacent properties and/or uses that may arise from the construction, operation, maintenance, modification, or removal of the small cell facility and/or wireless support structure.
(j) Good condition required. Small cell facilities and wireless support structures shall at all times be kept and maintained in good condition, order, and repair by qualified maintenance and construction personnel, so that the same shall not menace or endanger the health, safety or welfare of any person or property. Examples of poor condition include, but are not limited to: peeling, flaking, or blistered paint; rust or other visible deterioration of materials; or failure to maintain required landscape screening. All small cell facilities and wireless support structures shall be subject to generally applicable property maintenance requirements and to visual inspection by code enforcement officers. Notices of violation shall be served as provided in the Property Maintenance Code. The notice shall provide that the operator has twenty (20) days from date of service of the notice to appeal the notice or remedy it. If that time expires without appeal or remedy to the satisfaction of the Municipality, the Municipality may remedy the violation and charge the costs of said remedy to the operator.
(k) Graffiti Abatement. Permittee shall remove any graffiti on the small cell facility at permittee's sole expense.
(l) Rf Exposure Compliance. All facilities must comply with all standards and regulations of the FCC and any other state or federal government agency with the authority to regulate RF exposure standards.
(m) Relocation for Public Improvement Projects. Permittee shall remove and relocate the permitted small cell facility and/or wireless support structure at permittee's sole expense to accommodate construction of a public improvement project by the Municipality.
(n) Removal of Small Cell Facilities If Use Discontinued or Abandoned.
(1) In the event that the use of a small cell facility and/or wireless support structure is discontinued, the owner or operator of the small cell facility and/ or wireless support structure shall submit a request for consent to remove the wireless support structure or small cell facility, to the municipality of its intent to discontinue use and the date when the use shall be discontinued. If the small cell facility and/or wireless support structure is not removed within 365 days of discontinued use, the small cell facility and/ or wireless support structure shall be considered abandoned and the municipality may remove it at the owner's expense.
(2) Small cell facilities and wireless support structures determined by the municipality to be abandoned without notice from the owner may be removed by the municipality at the owner's expense to ensure the public health, safety, and welfare.
(3) The Municipality reserves the right to inspect and to request information from the operator, which the operator shall provide following such request, as to the continued use of the operator's small cell facility(ies) or wireless support structure(s) within the right-of-way.
(Ord. 17-2021. Passed 5-4-21.)