(A) Findings. The Communications Act of 1934 as amended by the Telecommunications Act of 1996 ("the Act") grants the Federal Communications Commissions (FCC) exclusive jurisdiction over:
(1) The regulation of the environmental effects of radio frequency (RF) emissions from telecommunication facilities; and
(2) The regulation of radio signal interference among users of the RF spectrum. Note: The regulation of towers and telecommunication facilities within the Town of Payson shall not have the effect of prohibiting any person from providing wireless telecommunications services in violation of the Act.
(B) Purpose. The general purpose of this subchapter is to regulate the placement, construction, and modification of towers and telecommunication facilities in order to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the public, while at the same time not unreasonably interfering with the development of the competitive wireless telecommunications market place. Specific purposes include:
(1) To regulate the location of towers and telecommunication facilities;
(2) To protect residential areas and land uses from potential adverse impact of towers and telecommunication facilities;
(3) To minimize adverse visual impact of towers and telecommunication facilities through careful design, siting, landscaping, and innovative camouflaging techniques;
(4) To promote and encourage shared use/co-locations of towers and antenna support structures as a primary option rather than construction of additional single use towers;
(5) To promote and encourage utilization of technological designs that will either eliminate or reduce the need for erection of new tower structures to support antenna and telecommunication facilities;
(6) To avoid potential damage to property caused by towers and telecommunication facilities by ensuring such structures are soundly and carefully designed, constructed, modified, maintained, and removed when no longer used or are determined to be structurally unsound; and
(7) To ensure that towers and telecommunication facilities are compatible with surrounding land uses.
(C) Town owned property. The Town Council reserves the exclusive right to establish all restrictions necessary or appropriate for the protection of the health, safety, and welfare of the citizens of the town, on any towers or telecommunication facilities placed on town owned property.
(1) The contract between the town and an applicant for the placement of a tower or telecommunication facility on town owned property shall determine the restrictions relating to the tower(s) and/or telecommunication facilities.
(2) Applicants for towers on town property shall complete a citizen participation plan and report as outlined in §154-09-013 and 154-09-014.
(3) The Town Council shall use the provisions of this subchapter and the citizen participation report as a guide when establishing such restrictions. All the provisions of the UDC, except this subchapter, shall apply to the placement of towers on town property.
(Ord. 466, passed 2-22-96)