(A) Co-location requirements. All commercial wireless telecommunication towers erected, constructed, or located within the city shall comply with the following requirements:
(1) A proposal for a new commercial wireless telecommunication service tower shall not be approved unless the City Council finds that the telecommunications equipment planned for the proposed tower cannot be accommodated on a city-owned or public building or property or on an existing or approved tower or building within a one half mile search radius of the proposed tower due to one or more of the following reasons:
(a) The planned equipment would exceed the structural capacity of the existing or approved tower or building, as documented by a qualified and licensed professional engineer, and the existing or approved tower cannot be reinforced, modified, or replaced to accommodate planned or equivalent equipment at a reasonable cost.
(b) 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.
(c) Existing or approved towers and buildings within the search radius cannot accommodate the planned equipment at a height necessary to function reasonably as documented by a qualified and licensed professional engineer.
(d) Other unforeseen reasons that make it infeasible to locate the planned telecommunications equipment upon an existing or approved tower or building.
(2) Any proposed commercial wireless telecommunication service tower shall be designed, structurally, electrically, and in all respects, to accommodate both the applicant's antennas and comparable or like antennas for at least three additional users if the tower is 101-150 feet in height, for at least two additional users if the tower is 60-100 feet in height, or for at least one additional user if the tower is less than 60 feet in height. Towers must be designed to allow for future rearrangement of antennas upon the tower and to accept antennas mounted at varying heights.
(B) Tower and design requirements. Proposed or modified towers and antennas shall meet the following design requirements:
(1) Towers and antennas shall be designed to blend into the surrounding environment through the use of color and camouflaging architectural treatment, except in instances where the color is dictated by federal or state authorities such as the Federal Aviation Administration.
(2) Commercial wireless telecommunication service towers shall be of a monopole design unless the City Council determines that an alternative design would better blend in to the surrounding environment.
(C) Tower construction requirements. All towers erected, constructed, or located within the city, and all wiring therefor, shall comply with the requirements set forth in the City's Building Code.
(D) Tower setbacks. Towers shall conform to each of the following minimum setback requirements in addition to the district requirements established in § 153.07 of this chapter:
(1) Towers, at a minimum, shall meet the setbacks of the underlying zoning district.
(2) Towers shall be set back from the planned public rights of way. All guy wires or guy wire anchors shall not be erected within public or private utility and drainage easements.
(3) A tower's setback may be reduced or its location in relation to a public street varied, at the sole discretion of the City Council, to allow the integration of a tower into an existing or proposed structure such as a church steeple, light standard, power line support device, or similar structure.
(4) A tower's setback may be reduced at the sole discretion of the City Council, if a report from a qualified and licensed professional engineer demonstrates that the design of the tower will not allow the tower to physically damage adjoining properties.
(5) Towers erected on any protected residential parcel as defined in § 153.03 of this chapter are also subject to the setback provisions of this chapter.
(E) Tower height. All proposed towers shall meet the height restrictions set forth in § 153.07 of this chapter.
(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 other than warning or equipment information signs is prohibited.
(H) Accessory utility buildings. All utility buildings and structures accessory to a tower shall be architecturally designed to blend in with the surrounding environment and shall meet the minimum setback requirements of the underlying zoning district. Ground mounted equipment shall be screened from view by suitable vegetation, except where a design of non-vegetative screening better reflects and complements the architectural character of the surrounding neighborhood.
(I) 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 is not removed within 12 months of the cessation of operations at a site, the tower and associated facilities may be removed by the city 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 conditional use permit.
(J) Antennas mounted on roofs, walls, and existing towers. The placement of wireless telecommunication antennas on roofs, walls, and existing towers are preferred to erecting new towers and may be approved by the Zoning Administrator, provided the antennas meet the requirements of this code, after submittal of a final site and building plan as specified by § 153.04(C) of this code, and a report prepared by a qualified and licensed professional engineer indicating the existing structure or tower's suitability to accept the antenna, and the proposed method of affixing the antenna to the structure. Complete details of all fixtures and couplings, and the precise point of attachment shall be indicated.
(K) 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 that provides a technical evaluation of existing and proposed transmissions and indicates all potential interference problems. Before the introduction of new service or changes in existing service, telecommunication providers shall notify the city at least ten calendar days in advance of such changes and allow the city to monitor interference levels during the testing process.
(Ord. 127, passed 10-12-99)