(A) Basic requirements. All wireless telecommunications facilities and wireless telecommunications collocation facilities that are located on private property or located on public property outside of the public rights-of-way shall be designed and maintained so as to minimize visual, auditory, olfactory, circulation or traffic, and other health and safety impacts and aesthetic impacts on the surrounding community and shall be planned, designed, located, and erected in accordance with the design and development standards in this section. With regard to an eligible facilities request, in the event that any applicable federal or state law or regulation conflicts with any requirement of this section, the applicable federal or state law or regulation shall take precedence.
(B) General guidelines.
(1) The applicant shall employ screening and camouflage design techniques in the design and placement of wireless telecommunications facilities and wireless telecommunication collocation facilities in order to ensure that the facility is as visually inconspicuous as possible, to hide the facility from predominant views from surrounding properties, all in a manner that achieves compatibility with the community.
(2) Screening shall be designed to be architecturally compatible with surrounding structures using appropriate techniques to camouflage, disguise, and/or blend into the environment including landscaping, color, and other techniques to minimize the facility’s visual impact as well as be compatible with the architectural character of the surrounding buildings or structures in terms of color, size, proportion, style, and quality.
(3) In no event shall the installation of facilities replace or interfere with parking spaces in such a way as to reduce the total number of parking spaces below the number that is required.
(C) Traffic safety. All facilities shall be designed and located in such a manner as to avoid adverse impacts on traffic safety.
(D) Antennas. The applicant shall use the least visible antennas possible to accomplish the coverage objectives. Antenna elements shall be flush mounted, to the extent feasible. All antenna mounts shall be designed so as not to preclude possible future collocation by the same or other operators or carriers. Antennas shall be situated as to reduce visual impact without compromising their function. Whip antennas need not be screened.
(E) Building-mounted and roof-mounted facilities. Except as expressly allowed otherwise by this chapter, building-mounted and roof-mounted facilities shall be designed and constructed to be fully concealed or screened in a manner compatible with the existing architecture of the building to which the facility is mounted in color, texture and type of material. Screening shall not change the aesthetic character of the building or roof structure to which the facility is attached or mounted.
(F) Facilities mounted to a telecommunications tower.
(1) Facilities mounted to a telecommunications tower shall be located in close proximity to existing above-ground utilities, such as electrical towers or utility poles (which are not scheduled for removal or under grounding for at least 18 months after the date of application), light poles, and trees of comparable heights, and in areas where they will minimize aesthetic impacts.
(2) Facilities mounted to a telecommunications tower, including, but not limited to, the attached antennas, shall be designed to be the minimum functional height and width required to adequately support the proposed facility and meet Federal Communications Commission requirements. The applicant shall provide documentation satisfactory to the Director establishing compliance with this division.
(a) No facilities mounted to a telecommunications tower shall:
1. Exceed 60 feet if located in a preferred location; or
2. Exceed 45 feet if an exception is granted for locating the proposed facilities in a discouraged location.
(b) No telecommunications tower shall be installed within two times its height from any public right-of-way.
(3) All cables, including, but not limited to, electrical and utility cables, shall be run within the interior of the telecommunications tower and shall be camouflaged or hidden to the fullest extent feasible without jeopardizing the physical integrity of the tower.
(4) Monopole installations shall be situated so as to utilize existing natural or man- made features including topography, vegetation, buildings, or other structures to provide the greatest amount of visual screening.
(5) All antenna components and accessory wireless equipment shall be treated with exterior coatings of a color and texture to match the predominant visual background and/or existing architectural elements so as to visually blend in with the surrounding development. Subdued colors and non-reflective materials that blend with surrounding materials and colors shall be used.
(6) Monopoles and antennas and similar structures shall be no greater in diameter or other cross-sectional dimensions than is necessary for the proper functioning of the facility. The applicant shall provide documentation satisfactory to the Director establishing compliance with this division.
(7) If a faux tree is proposed for the monopole installation (i.e. monopine, monopalm, etc.), it shall be of a type of tree compatible with those existing in the immediate areas of the installation. If no trees exist within the immediate areas, additional landscaping may be required to help integrate the faux tree into the surrounding area. Additional camouflage of the faux tree may be required depending on the type and design of faux tree proposed.
(G) Accessory equipment. All accessory equipment associated with the operation of any wireless telecommunications facility or wireless telecommunications collocation facility shall be fully screened or camouflaged with stealth elements, and located in a manner to minimize their visibility to the greatest extent possible utilizing the following methods for the type of installation:
(1) Accessory equipment for building-mounted or roof-mounted facilities shall be installed inside the building to which it is mounted or underground, if feasible. If not feasible, such accessory equipment may be located on the roof of the building that the facility is mounted on, provided that both the equipment and screening materials are painted the color of the building, roof, and/or surroundings. All screening materials for roof-mounted facilities shall be of a quality and design that is architecturally integrated with the design of the building or structure.
(2) Accessory equipment for facilities mounted to a telecommunications tower shall be visually screened by locating the equipment either within a nearby building, in an underground vault where feasible (with the exception of required electrical panels) or in another type of enclosed structure, which shall comply with the development and design standards of the zoning district in which the accessory equipment is located. Such enclosed structure shall be architecturally treated and/or adequately screened from view by landscape plantings, decorative walls, fencing or other appropriate means, selected so that the resulting screening will be visually integrated with the architecture and landscaping of the surroundings.
(H) Landscaping. Where appropriate, facilities shall be installed so as to maintain and enhance existing landscaping on the site, including trees, foliage and shrubs, whether or not utilized for screening. Additional landscaping shall be planted where such vegetation is deemed necessary by the city to provide screening or to block the line of sight between facilities and adjacent uses.
(I) Signage. Wireless telecommunications facilities and wireless telecommunications collocation facilities shall not bear any signs or advertising devices other than certification, warnings or other signage required by law or permitted by the city.
(J) Lighting. No wireless telecommunications facility or wireless telecommunications collocation facility may be illuminated unless specifically required by the Federal Aviation Administration or other government agency. Lightning arresters and beacon lights are not permitted unless required by the Federal Aviation Administration or other government agency. Legally required lightning arresters and beacons shall be included when calculating the height of facilities such as telecommunications towers.
(K) Noise.
(1) Each wireless telecommunications facility and wireless telecommunications collocation facility shall be operated in such a manner so as to minimize any possible disruption caused by noise.
(a) At no time shall equipment noise from any facility exceed an exterior noise level of 50 dBA at the facility’s property line if the facility is located in a business, commercial or manufacturing zone or a planned development or specific plan zone that permits those uses, provided, however, that for any such facility located within 500 feet of any property zoned residential or improved with a residential use, such equipment noise shall at no time be audible at the property line of such residential property, measured pursuant to the procedures specified in Chapter 9.44 of this code. For any facility located within a residential zone, such equipment noise shall at no time be audible at the property line of any residentially improved or residential zoned property, measured pursuant to the procedures specified in Chapter 9.44 of this code.
(b) All air conditioning units and any other equipment that may emit noise that would be audible from beyond the facility’s property line shall be enclosed or equipped with noise attenuation devices to the extent necessary to ensure compliance with applicable noise limitations under this chapter.
(2) Backup generators shall only be operated during periods of power outages, and shall not be tested on weekends or holidays, or between the hours of 7:00 PM and 7:00 AM.
(L) Security. Each wireless telecommunications facility and wireless telecommunications collocation facility shall be designed to be resistant to, and minimize opportunities for, unauthorized access, climbing, vandalism, graffiti and other conditions that would result in hazardous situations, visual blight or attractive nuisances. The reviewing authority may require the provision of warning signs, fencing, anti-climbing devices, or other techniques to prevent unauthorized access and vandalism when, because of their location and/or accessibility, a facility has the potential to become an attractive nuisance.
(M) Modification. To the extent authorized by state and federal laws and regulations, at the time of modification of a wireless telecommunications facility or wireless telecommunications collocation facility, existing equipment shall, to the extent feasible, be replaced with equipment that reduces visual, noise and other impacts, including, but not limited to, undergrounding the equipment and replacing larger, more visually intrusive facilities with smaller, less visually intrusive facilities. If the proposed modification is submitted as part of an eligible facility request, then the provisions governing eligible facilities apply, provided there is no substantial change.
(Ord. 2021-10 § 6 (part), 2021)