(a) Department Meetings. Once a year, the Department will convene a meeting with Persons who submitted Applications for Surface-Mounted Facility Site Permits in the past two years to discuss issues related to the permitting and construction of Surface-Mounted Facilities in the Public Right-of-Ways. The Department shall also invite to the meeting other interested Persons including, but not limited to, any equipment vendors, technology experts, and design professionals that the Department knows or has reason to know have expertise or interest in the equipment or cabinets used for Surface-Mounted Facilities or the requirements of this Article 27. The Department will also post a public notice of the meetings. At such meetings, the Department will discuss technological advancements, Graffiti and blight abatement, and the efficacy of community outreach conducted by the Applicants.
(b) Technological Advancements. Should the Department determine that advances in technology have made it both economically and technologically feasible for Permittees to place existing Surface-Mounted Facilities underground, the Department shall require that any Surface-Mounted Facility the Department permitted under this Article be placed underground unless the Department determines that doing so would be either infeasible or undesirable. The Department shall notify a Permittee of this determination in writing and shall provide the Permittee with reasonable time to comply with the undergrounding requirement.