(A) Intent and purpose. The intent and purpose of these regulations is to accommodate the communications needs of people while protecting the public health, safety and general welfare of the community. These regulations will:
(1) Facilitate the provision of wireless telecommunication services to the residents and businesses of the village;
(2) Minimize adverse visual effects of towers through design and siting standards;
(3) Avoid potential damage to adjacent property from tower failure through structural standards and setback requirements; and
(4) Maximize the use of existing approved towers and buildings to accommodate new wireless telecommunication facilities in order to reduce the number of towers necessary to serve the community.
(B) District regulations. A wireless communication facility shall require a Huron County adopted building permit in all instances and may be permitted as follows:
(1) All districts. A wireless service facility may locate on any existing guyed tower, lattice tower, monopole, electric utility transmission tower, fire tower or water tower, provided the installation of the new facility does not increase the height of the existing structure except as provided in the height regulations in this chapter. Such installations shall be permitted by right in all zoning districts and be permitted through village staff review.
(2) Towers in residentially and agriculturally zoned areas are only allowed if they are:
(a) Towers supporting amateur radio antennas and conforming to all applicable provisions of this chapter shall be allowed in the rear yard of parcels.
(b) Towers supporting commercial antennas and conforming to all applicable provisions of this chapter shall be allowed only in the following locations by right and shall be permitted through the site plan review procedures outlined in this chapter:
(c) Church sites, when camouflaged as steeples or bell towers;
(d) Park sites, when compatible with the nature of the park; and,
(e) Government, school, utility and institutional sites, according to the statement of priority of users and minimum requirements for use of village owned properties.
(f) Wireless telecommunication antennas on roofs, walls and existing towers may be approved by the village staff provided the antennas meet the requirements of this chapter after submittal of a final site plan and a report prepared by a licensed professional engineer, surveyor or architect indicating the existing structure or tower's suitability to accept the antenna and the proposed method for affixing the antenna to the structure. Complete details of all fixtures and couplings and the precise point of attachment shall be indicated.
(3) Towers in agriculturally, commercially or industrially zoned areas are allowed by right if they qualify as towers allowed by right in residentially zoned areas.
(4) Newly constructed towers in agriculturally, commercially or industrially zoned areas are allowed by special use permit under the following situations:
(a) The Planning Commission finds the telecommunications equipment planned for the proposed tower cannot be accommodated on an existing or approved tower or building within a one and one half mile radius of the proposed tower location due to one or more of the following reasons:
1. The planned equipment would exceed the structural capacity of the existing or approved tower or building, as documented by a qualified and licensed engineer, and the existing or approved tower cannot be reinforced, modified, or replaced to accommodate planned or equivalent equipment at a reasonable cost.
2. The planned equipment would cause interference materially impacting the usability of other existing or planned equipment at the tower or building as documented by a qualified and licensed professional engineer and the interference cannot be prevented at a reasonable cost.
3. Existing or approved towers and buildings within the search radius cannot accommodate the planned equipment at a height necessary to function reasonable as documented by a qualified and licensed professional engineer.
4. Other unforeseen reasons make it infeasible to locate the planned telecommunications equipment upon an existing or approved tower or building.
(C) Colocation.
(1) Licensed carriers shall share wireless service facilities and sites where feasible and appropriate, thereby reducing the number of wireless service facilities that are stand-alone facilities. All applicants for a special use permit for a wireless service facility shall demonstrate a good faith effort to co-locate with other carriers. Such good faith effort includes:
(a) A survey of all existing structures that may be feasible sites for co-locating wireless service facilities;
(b) Contact with all the other licensed carriers for commercial mobile radio services operating in the village; and
(c) Sharing information necessary to determine if colocation is feasible under the design configuration most accommodating to colocation.
(2) In the event that colocation is found to be infeasible, a written statement of the reasons for the lack of feasibility shall be submitted to the village. The village may retain a technical expert in the field of RF engineering to verify if colocation at the site is not feasible or is feasible given the design configuration most accommodating to colocation. The cost for such a technical expert will be at the expense of the applicant. The village may deny a special use permit to an applicant that has not demonstrated a good faith effort to provide for colocation.
(D) Tower setbacks. Towers shall conform with each of the following minimum setbacks requirements:
(1) Towers shall meet the setbacks of the underlying zoning district with the exception of industrial zoning districts, where towers may encroach into the rear setback areas, provided that the rear property line abuts another industrially zoned property and the tower does not encroach upon any easements.
(2) Towers shall not be located between a principal structure and a public street, with the following exceptions:
(a) In industrial zoning districts, towers may be placed within a side yard abutting an internal industrial street; and
(b) On sites adjacent to public streets on all sides, towers may be placed within a side yard abutting a local street.
(3) A tower's location in relation to a public street varied, at the discretion of the village Planning Commission to allow the integration of a tower into an existing or proposed structure such as a church steeple, light standards, power line support device, or similar structure.
(4) Towers and associated structures, including fencing, may not be constructed within 500 feet of a dwelling unit, except where they are being co-located on existing towers or structures.
(E) Tower height. In all zoning districts, the maximum height of any tower, including antennas and other attachments, shall not exceed 200 feet except as granted by the Zoning Board of Appeals.
(F) Tower lighting. Towers shall not be illuminated by artificial means and shall not display strobe lights unless such lighting is specifically required by the Federal Aviation Administration or other federal or state authority for a particular tower. 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.
(G) Signs and advertising. The use of any portion of a tower for signs or other forms of advertising other than warning or equipment information signs are prohibited.
(H) Abandoned or unused towers or portions of towers. Abandoned or unused towers or portions of towers shall be removed as follows:
(1) All abandoned or unused towers and associated facilities shall be removed within 12 months of the cessation of operations at the site unless a time extension is approved by the Zoning Administrator. A copy of the relevant portions of a signed lease which requires the applicant to remove the tower and associated facilities upon cessation of operations at the site shall be submitted at the time of application. In the event that a tower and associated facilities is not removed within 12 months of the cessation of operations at a site, the tower and associated facilities may be removed by the village and the costs of removal assessed against the property.
(2) Unused portions of towers above a manufactured connection shall be removed within six months of the time of antenna relocation. The replacement of portions of a tower previously removed requires the issuance of a new special use permit.
(I) Interference with public safety telecommunications. No new or existing telecommunications service shall interfere with public safety telecommunications. All applications for new service shall be accompanied by an intermodulation study which provides a technical evaluation of existing and proposed transmission and indicates all potential interference problems. Before the introduction of new service or changes in existing service, telecommunication providers shall notify the [word missing] at least ten calendar days in advance of such changes and allow the village to monitor interference levels during the testing process.
(J) Modifications. A modification of a wireless service facility may be considered equivalent to an application for a new wireless service facility and will require a special use permit when the following events apply:
(1) The applicant and/or co-applicant wants to alter the terms of the special use permit by changing the wireless service facility in one or more of the following ways:
(a) Change in the number of facilities permitted on the site; and
(b) Change in the technology used for the wireless service facility.
(2) The applicant and/or co-applicant wants to add any equipment or additional height not specified in the original design filing.
(Ord. passed 11-16-2020)