(a) In recognition of the quasi-public nature of cellular and/or wireless telecommunication systems, it is the purpose of these regulations to: accommodate the need for cellular or wireless telecommunications towers and facilities for the provision of personal wireless/cellular services while regulating their location and number in the City; minimize adverse visual effects of telecommunication towers and support structures through proper siting, design, and screening; to minimize the adverse impacts that telecommunication facilities may have on the health, safety and welfare of the public; to avoid potential damage to adjacent properties from telecommunication tower and support failure; and to encourage the joint use of any new and existing telecommunication towers and support structures to minimize the number of such structures. The following requirements shall apply to conditional use permits for wireless telecommunication facilities.
(b) Special Application Requirements. A site plan shall include the following:
(1) The total area of the lot;
(2) The existing zoning of the site and all adjoining lots;
(3) All public and private right-of-way and easements located on the lot;
(4) The location of all existing buildings and structures on the lot; all buildings or structures and uses within five hundred (500) feet of the tower site; and the proposed location of the wireless/cellular communication tower and all wireless/cellular communication support structures including dimensions, heights, and, where applicable, the gross floor areas;
(5) The location and dimensions for all curb cuts, driving lanes, off-street parking spaces, grades, surfacing materials, drainage plans, illumination of the facility, and landscaping;
(6) The location of all proposed fences, screening and walls;
(7) Any other information as may be required by the Board.
(8) A report prepared by a licensed professional engineer documenting the height, design, proof of compliance with nationally accepted structural standards, and a description of the tower’s capacity, which shall include the number and types of antennae it can accommodate.
(9) For the purpose of demonstrating the necessity for the erection of any new telecommunication tower, any applicant requesting permission to install a new tower shall provide evidence of written communication with all other wireless/cellular service providers who supply service within a one (1) mile radius of the proposed facility requesting use of the other providers’ towers for collocation of the applicant’s antennae. The contacted provider shall be requested to respond in writing to the inquiry within thirty (30) days. The applicant’s letter(s) as well as the responses received shall be presented to the Board to demonstrate the need for a new tower.
(10) The applicant shall also provide evidence of written communication with owners of nearby tall structures within a one (1) mile radius of the proposed tower site, asking permission to install the wireless/cellular antennae on those structures. Tall structures shall include, but not be limited to: smoke stacks, water towers, buildings over fifty (50) feet in height, other communication towers, and roadway light poles.
(11) The facility owner/operator shall present a maintenance plan demonstrating responsibility for the site.
(12) The applicant shall provide a copy of a permanent easement or appropriate leasehold estate providing for access to the tower site. The access to the tower sight must be maintained regardless of other development that may take place on the site.
(13) The communication company must demonstrate proof to the City that the company is licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
(c) The following additional regulations shall apply to wireless telecommunications facilities:
(1) Wireless or cellular telecommunication sites shall be located at least two hundred fifty (250) feet from any residential zoning district.
(2) The setback between the base of the tower or any guy wire anchors and any property line shall be located a distance which is at least forty (40) percent of the tower’s height or fifty (50) feet, whichever is greater.
(3) The maximum height of a telecommunication tower shall be two hundred (200) feet. The maximum height of the equipment building shall be thirty-five (35) feet.
(4) Maximum size of an equipment building shall be seven hundred fifty (750) square feet.
(5) The minimum lot size and area restriction shall be the same as permitted for any other use in the Innovation Zone.
(6) A security fence eight (8) feet in height with barbed wire around the top shall completely surround the tower, the equipment building and any guy wires.
(7) Towers and antennae shall be designed to withstand wind gusts of at least one hundred (100) miles per hour.
(8) The tower shall be painted in a non-contrasting gray or similar color to minimize its visibility, unless otherwise required by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) or Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
(9) No graphics advertising is permitted anywhere on the facility.
(10) Buffer planting shall be located around the perimeter of the security fence as follows: An evergreen screen shall be planted that consists of either a hedge or evergreen trees that shall provide a minimum of seventy-five (75) percent opacity year round.
(11) The tower shall not be artificially lighted except to assure safety or as required by the FAA.
(12) Warning signs shall be posted around the facility with an emergency telephone number of whom to contact in the event of an emergency.
(13) The owner/operator of any telecommunications facility shall design such facility so that additional service providers may add their antennae, platforms, and associated hardware to the structure at a later date. The owner/operator shall negotiate in good faith with other providers for the collocation of other service providers’ antennae at the facility, shall cooperate with the City in identifying other wireless/cellular service providers for the purpose of negotiating sublease agreements for collocation of other service providers’ antennae at the facility, and shall not interfere or hinder service providers from utilizing the facility.
(14) Where possible, an antenna or tower for use by a wireless/cellular service providers shall be attached to an existing structure or building. A new wireless communication facility shall not be erected if there is a technically suitable space for wireless communication facility available on an existing wireless communication tower or other suitable structure within the applicant’s search area. The applicant must demonstrate that a technically suitable location is not reasonably available on an existing structure or that bona fide efforts to negotiate location on structures have been rejected.
(15) Any owner of a tower whose use will be discontinued shall submit a written report to the Planning and Zoning Administrator indicating the date on which such use shall cease. If at any time the use of the facility is discontinued for one hundred eighty (180) days (excluding any dormancy period between construction and the initial use of the facility), the Board may declare the facility abandoned. The tower owner and the owner of the property upon which the tower is located shall receive written instruction from the Board to either reactive the use within one hundred eighty (180) days or dismantle and remove the facility.
(16) If reactivation does not occur within said period, the City may thereafter proceed to move the facility and assess the costs of removal to the owner, as well as certify those costs to the County Auditor as a lien against the property.
(17) In addition to the foregoing requirements, the following standards, items A. through D., shall apply to wireless or cellular telecommunications facilities permitted on a property with an existing use:
A. The existing use on the property may be any permitted use or lawful nonconforming use in the Innovation Zone, and said use need not be affiliated with the wireless/cellular telecommunication provider.
B. The telecommunication facility shall be fully automated and unattended on a daily basis.
C. The vehicular access to the equipment building shall, whenever feasible, be provided along the circulation driveways of the existing use.
D. Subsequent to approval of a conditional use permit for a telecommunication tower, the owner shall submit building permit applications to the City for any additional antennae proposed to be placed on the tower. A new zoning certificate will not be required, unless the Planning and Zoning Administrator determines that such additions do not conform with the approved conditional use permit.
(Ord. 33-2020. Passed 3-23-20; Ord. 103-2021. Passed 7-26-21.)