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1105.15 TELECOMMUNICATIONS FACILITIES.
   (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.)
1105.17 CONVERSION OF DWELLING UNITS.
   In the SR, RM, and ORD-N, a structure may be converted to accommodate an increased number of dwelling units, provided that the proposed dwellings and lot conform with all requirements for new dwellings in the district, including the permitted number of dwellings, all yard and lot dimensions, floor area for each dwelling, and required parking spaces.
(Ord. 33-2020. Passed 3-23-20; Ord. 103-2021. Passed 7-26-21.)
1105.19 PERFORMANCE STANDARDS.
   (a)   Applicability. Every permitted use and conditional use permit shall conform to the performance standards in this chapter and to the laws and regulations of the State of Ohio and of the federal government. Any use permitted by this Zoning Code may be undertaken and maintained if acceptable measures and safeguards are employed to limit dangerous and objectionable elements to acceptable limits as established by the performance standards. Compliance with these standards shall be required during all times of operation of the approved activity or use.
   (b)   Existing Use. An existing use which does not conform with these performance standards shall not be enlarged or remodeled if: the enlargement or remodeling will cause greater noncompliance with the performance standards which exist at the time of the proposed enlargement or remodeling; or if the nonconforming conditions are not brought into compliance as a result of or concurrently with the enlargement or remodeling.
   (c)   Measurement Procedures. Methods and procedures for the determination of compliance with these performance standards shall conform to applicable methodologies prescribed by this Zoning Code or to applicable standard measurement procedures published by the American National Standards Institute, New York, N.Y., the Manufacturing Chemists’ Association, Inc., Washington, D.C. and the United States Bureau of Mines, the National Fire Protection Association, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, and other recognized organizations whose standards are acceptable to the Zoning Official.
   (d)   Studies to Demonstrate Compliance. When the Planning and Zoning Administrator or the Board of Zoning and Building Appeals determines that either the information provided by the property owner is not sufficient to determine compliance with the performance standards without providing additional studies or expert advice, or that the information provided by the owner is of such nature, complexity, or quantity that the Planning and Zoning Administrator or the Board is not able to make a determination of compliance without additional studies or expert advice, then the Planning and Zoning Administrator shall advise the owner that such studies or advice are required. The Planning and Zoning Administrator and the Board may accept the required studies prepared by qualified professionals engaged by the owner or the owner shall deposit funds with the City as required to pay for such studies or expert advice.
   (e)   Control of Objectionable Processes and Operations. The Planning and Zoning Administrator or Board of Zoning and Building Appeals, prior to the issuance of a zoning certificate, may require the submission of statements and plans indicating the manner in which dangerous and objectionable elements, including those described in the following performance standards, involved in processing and in equipment operations are to be eliminated or reduced to acceptable limits and tolerances.
   (f)   Performance Standards. The following performance standards shall be applicable to the operation of any use permitted under this Zoning Code.
      (1)   Fire hazards. Any activity involving the use or storage of flammable or explosive materials shall be protected by adequate fire-fighting and fire suppression equipment and by such safety devices as are normally used in the handling of any such material. Such hazards shall be kept removed from adjacent activities to a distance which is compatible with the potential danger involved.
      (2)   Radioactivity or electrical disturbance. No activity shall emit dangerous radioactivity at any point or electrical disturbance adversely affecting the operation at any point of any equipment other than that of the creator of such disturbance.
      (3)   Noise and vibration. All activities shall comply with the provisions of Section 509.11 of the Code of Ordinances and all other regulations of the City relating to noise and vibration.
      (4)   Smoke emission. Smoke shall not be emitted with a density greater than No. 1 on the Ringelmann Chart as issued by the U.S. Bureau of Mines except for flow-off periods of ten (10) minutes duration of one (1) per hour when a density of not more than No. 2 is permitted.
      (5)   Odors. No malodorous gas or matter which is offensive or produces a public nuisance or hazard on any adjoining lot shall be permitted.
      (6)   Air pollution. No pollution of air by fly-ash, dust, vapor or other substance which is harmful to health, animals, vegetation or other property, or which can cause excessive soiling shall be permitted.
      (7)   Glare. No direct or reflected glare which is visible from any lot outside any Industrial District or from any public street, road or highway shall be permitted.
      (8)   Erosion. No erosion, by either wind or water carrying objectionable substance onto neighboring properties shall be permitted.
      (9)   Water pollution. Pollution of water shall be subject to the requirements and regulations established by the State Water Pollution Control Board.
      (10)   Toxic or noxious matter. No use, operation, or activity shall emit or discharge toxic or noxious matter in any form, particularly as identified on the USEPA Extremely Hazardous Substances List, which may be detrimental to the public health, safety or general welfare or which may endanger the natural environment. Provisions for the proper storage, use, and disposal of hazardous and/or toxic materials shall conform to the standards and requirements for such materials established by the USEPA and OEPA.
(Ord. 33-2020. Passed 3-23-20; Ord. 103-2021. Passed 7-26-21.)