A. Purpose: The wireless communication facility regulations of this section establish supplemental regulations governing wireless communications towers and antennas. These regulations are established to promote the following goals:
1. Protecting residential areas and land uses from potentially adverse impacts of towers and antennas;
2. Encouraging the location of towers in nonresidential areas;
3. Minimizing the total number of towers;
4. Encouraging co-location rather than the construction of additional single-use towers;
5. Encouraging users of towers and antennas to locate them, to the extent possible, in areas where the adverse impact on the community is minimal;
6. Encouraging users of towers and antennas to configure them in a way that minimizes the adverse visual impact of the towers and antennas through careful design, siting, landscape screening and innovative camouflaging techniques; and
7. Helping to ensure the ability of telecommunications services providers to offer such services to the community quickly, effectively and efficiently.
B. Exemptions: The following are exempt from these regulations:
1. Amateur (ham) radio antennas;
2. Microwave reflectors and parabolic antennas;
3. Antennas and equipment located completely inside of buildings; and
4. Minor modifications of existing wireless communications facilities and attached wireless communications facilities, whether emergency or routine, provided there is little or no change in the visual appearance. Minor modifications are those modifications, including the addition of antennas, to conforming wireless and attached wireless communications facilities that comply with all applicable regulations of this section.
C. Federal Law: The wireless communication facility regulations of this section must be applied within the constraints of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, section 6409 of the Middle-Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 and all other applicable State and Federal regulations.
D. Special Definitions: The following definitions are established solely for administering and interpreting the wireless communication facility regulations of this section.
ANTENNA: Means any exterior transmitting or receiving device used in communications to radiate or capture electromagnetic waves, digital signals, analog signals, radio frequencies, wireless telecommunications signals or other communication signals.
FAA: Means the Federal Aviation Administration.
FCC: Means the Federal Communications Commission.
HEIGHT: When referring to a tower or wireless communication facility, means the distance from finished grade at the base of the tower or facility, including any base pad, to the highest point of the structure.
MONOPOLE: Means a single, freestanding pole structure without guy wires or external supporting braces.
E. General Requirements: All towers and antennas are subject to the general requirements of this subsection unless otherwise expressly stated.
1. Towers may be considered either principal or accessory uses. Another principal or accessory use on the same lot does not preclude the installation of a tower on that lot.
2. Towers and antennas are subject to all of the following requirements:
a. Towers and antennas must be designed to blend into the surrounding environment through the use of color, galvanizing, or camouflaging architectural treatment, except in instances where the color is dictated by Federal or State authorities, such as the Federal Aviation Administration.
b. Except in IL and IH Zoning Districts, towers must be of a monopole design unless the Board of Adjustment approves, by special exception, an alternative design that they determine would better blend into the surrounding environment or that the required antennas cannot be supported by a monopole.
c. If an antenna is installed on a structure other than a tower, the antenna and supporting electrical and mechanical equipment must be of a color that closely matches or complements the color of the supporting structure, so as to make the antenna and related equipment as visually unobtrusive as possible.
3. Towers may not be illuminated by artificial means and may not display strobe lights unless such lighting is expressly required by the Federal Aviation Administration or other Federal or State authorities. When incorporated into the approved design of the tower, light fixtures used to illuminate ball fields, parking lots or similar areas may be attached to the tower.
4. The use of any portion of a tower for advertising or signs other than warning or equipment information signs is expressly prohibited.
5. All utility buildings and structures accessory to a tower must comply with all applicable requirements of the underlying zoning district. Exterior ground-mounted equipment occupying more than fifty (50) square feet, if visible from ground level, must be screened from view of abutting property used or zoned for residential purposes by a screening wall or fence in accordance with the F1 screening fence or wall regulations of section 10-11-5 of this title.
6. The following setback requirements apply to all towers unless otherwise expressly approved by the Board of Adjustment as part of the special exception approval:
a. Towers must be set back a distance equal to at least one hundred ten percent (110%) of the height of the tower from any adjoining lot line of an R-Zoned lot, excluding R-Zoned expressway rights-of-way.
b. Accessory buildings are subject to applicable zoning district building setback requirements.
7. Towers must be enclosed by security fencing that is at least six feet (6') in height or be equipped with an appropriate anti- climbing device.
F. Antennas And Towers Requiring Special Exception Approval:
1. Applicability: The regulations of this subsection F apply to all antennas and towers that require special exception approval.
2. Factors To Be Considered: Applications do not require and may not be evaluated based upon:
a. Information about an applicant's business decisions with respect to the applicant's designed service, customer demand for service, or quality of the applicant's service to or from a particular area or site;
b. Availability of other potential locations for the placement or construction of a tower or transmission equipment;
c. Other options for co-location instead of the construction of a new tower or modification of an existing tower;
d. The requirement for removal of existing towers or transmission equipment, except as stated by this section or City Council policy for removal of abandoned towers or transmission equipment;
e. Surety requirements, including bonds, escrow deposits, letters of credit, or any other type of financial surety, to ensure that abandoned or unused towers or transmission equipment can be removed, other than requirements stated in regulations or policy approved by City Council resolution that are competitively neutral, nondiscriminatory, reasonable in amount, and commensurate with the historical record for local facilities and structures that are abandoned;
f. Applicant's agreement to provide space on or near the tower for the City or for other local governmental or nongovernmental services at less than the market rate for such space or to provide other services via the structure or facilities at less than the market rate for such services;
g. Environmental testing, sampling, or monitoring requirements, or other compliance measures, for radio frequency emissions from transmission equipment that are categorically excluded under FCC rules for radio frequency emissions pursuant to 47 CFR 1.1307(b)(1);
h. Regulations or procedures for radio frequency signal strength or the adequacy of service quality; or
i. Perceived or alleged environmental effects of radio frequency emissions, as provided in 47 USC 332(c)(7)(B)(iv).
3. Findings: The findings of the Board of Adjustment as to each of these factors must be made on the record and included in the written minutes of the meeting.
4. Co-Location: Co-location of facilities is encouraged wherever practical by allowing reasonable extra height or tower diameter necessary to support multiple antennas.
5. Landscaping: The following requirements govern landscaping surrounding towers that require special exception approval; provided that the Board of Adjustment may modify or waive such requirements by special exception.
a. Tower facilities must be landscaped with a continuously maintained buffer of plant materials that effectively screens the view of the tower compound from property within three hundred feet (300') used or zoned for residential purposes. The standard buffer requirement consists of a landscaped strip with a minimum width of four feet (4') outside the perimeter of the compound.
b. Existing mature tree growth and natural land forms on the site must be preserved to the maximum extent possible. In some cases, such as towers sited on large, wooded lots, natural growth around the property perimeter may provide sufficient buffer.
G. Antennas And Towers Permitted As-Of-Right:
1. Applicability: The regulations of this subsection G apply to all antennas and towers that are permitted as-of-right.
2. Permits: A permit must be obtained from the City before installation or construction of any antenna or tower.
3. Regulations: Antennas and towers that are permitted as-of- right are subject to the following supplemental regulations:
a. Antennas attached to the roof or wall of buildings in Commercial or Industrial Zoning Districts, or to office or apartment/condo buildings, or to public, civic or institutional buildings (e.g., schools, places of worship, or hospitals) are subject to all of the following regulations:
(1) An antenna may not extend more than twenty feet (20') above the highest point of the building, or, if located on an architectural feature such as a steeple or bell tower, may not protrude above that structure; provided, however, that the Board of Adjustment may modify such requirements by special exception; and
(2) The antenna must comply with all applicable FCC and FAA regulations;
(3) The antenna must comply with all applicable Building Codes.
b. Antennas may be attached to existing towers and to City-owned buildings and structures. When an existing tower must be modified to accommodate the collocation of antennas, the tower must be of the same type as the existing tower or reconstructed as a monopole and the modification or reconstruction may not result in a height increase of more than thirty feet (30') above the height of the existing tower. Other modifications may be approved by special exception.
H. Removal Of Abandoned Antenna And Towers: Any antenna or tower that is not operated for a continuous period of twelve (12) months will be considered abandoned, and the owner of the antenna or tower must remove it within ninety (90) days of receiving notice from the City. Failure to remove the abandoned antenna or tower within ninety (90) days constitutes grounds for the City to remove the antenna or tower at the owner's expense. Abandoned towers are subject to the City's nuisance abatement procedures.
I. Preexisting Towers And Antennas: Any tower or antenna that lawfully existed on or before the effective date specified in section 10-1-3 of this title, including a tower or antenna for which a permit was issued on or before that date which was constructed within the time frame allowed under the permit, is allowed to remain in use. Routine maintenance, including antenna replacement, is permitted. All new construction, other than routine maintenance, requires compliance with all applicable regulations of this section. (Ord. 2018-16, 12-4-2018)