All wireless telecommunication facilities shall be conditional uses in the General Business (GB), Regional Business (RB), Business Park (BP), Light Industrial (LI) and Agriculture (A) Districts and the Business Planned Unit Development (B-PUD) and Industrial Planned Unit Development (I-PUD) Districts. Wireless telecommunication facilities may be located on any publicly owned land regardless the zoning district in which the land is located, upon approval by the Planning Commission. All applications shall comply with the following minimum standards:
(a) Applicants for construction of a Wireless Telecommunication Facility shall first contact the City of Trotwood Zoning Administrator to discuss siting the facility on publicly owned property. Facilities shall be sited on publicly owned property provided that a technically suitable site is available within the proposed service area and the agency responsible for the publicly owned land agrees to the proposed placement of the Wireless Telecommunication Facility on the publicly owned property in accordance with the requirements of the Trotwood Zoning Ordinance and terms and conditions that are acceptable to both parties.
(b) No wireless telecommunication facility shall be permitted in a residential zoning district except as approved by Planning Commission for facilities constructed under subsection (a) above.
(c) Photo simulations of the proposed wireless telecommunication tower as viewed from adjoining properties and public rights-of-way shall be submitted with the application.
(d) All wireless telecommunication towers shall be set back from property lines a distance of at least the height of the tower or the required setback in the zoning district in which it is located, whichever is greater. Setback of Wireless Telecommunication Facilities from street rights-of-way shall be as approved by Planning Commission. In no event shall a wireless telecommunication tower or facility be located in front of the principal building on the lot, if any.
(e) All wireless telecommunication towers shall be of a monopole design, as opposed to a lattice design.
(f) Only one wireless telecommunication tower shall be located on a lot of record duly recorded with the Montgomery County Recorder's Office.
(g) The maximum height of a free-standing wireless telecommunication tower with its antenna and all appurtenances shall not exceed 200 feet.
(h) All applications for the construction or erection of wireless telecommunication towers shall include plans and designs for structures which will have sufficient structural loading capacity to accommodate at least four antenna platforms or antenna arrays of equal loading capacity for four separate providers of service to be located on the structure when constructed to the maximum allowable height. The wireless telecommunication facility shall also be designed to show that the applicant has enough space on its site for an equipment shelter large enough to accommodate at least four separate users of the facility. If an equipment shelter is initially constructed to accommodate only one user, space shall be reserved on site for equipment shelter expansions and/or equipment shelters to accommodate up to at least four separate users. Agreement to the provisions of this subsection must be included in the applicant's lease with the landowner, if different from the owner/user of the tower. Written documentation must be presented to the Zoning Administrator evidencing that the landowner of the property on which the tower is to be located has agreed to the terms of this subsection. As an additional condition of issuing a zoning permit, the owner/user/applicant shall respond in writing to any inquiries regarding collocation of another user of the facility within thirty days after receipt of a written inquiry. Copies of all written requests to collocate and all written responses shall be sent to the Zoning Administrator.
(i) The applicant requesting permission to install a new tower shall provide evidence there is no technically suitable space for the applicant's antenna or antennae and related facilities reasonably available on an existing tower, building or structure within the geographic area to be served. With the Wireless Permit application:
(1) The applicant shall list the location of every tower, building or structure that could support the proposed antenna or antennae or the area where it would be technically suitable to locate so as to allow it to serve its intended function.
(2) The applicant must demonstrate that a technically suitable location is not reasonably available on an existing tower, building or structure.
(3) If an existing tower, building or structure is technically suitable, the applicant must demonstrate that it has made written request to collocate on the existing tower, building or structure and the request was rejected by the owner of the tower, building or structure.
(4) In all circumstances, owners of existing towers shall promptly respond in writing to requests for collocation, but in no event shall they respond more than thirty days from the date of receipt of a written request for collocation.
(5) If another telecommunication tower is technically suitable, the applicant must further show that it has offered to allow the owner of that other tower to collocate an antenna or antennae on another tower within the City which is owned or controlled by the applicant, if available, on commercially reasonable terms and that the offer was not accepted.
(j) A report shall be prepared and submitted by a qualified and licensed professional engineer and shall provide proof of compliance with all applicable Federal, State, County and City regulations. The report shall include a detailed site plan, a detailed description of the telecommunication tower, the antenna or antennae, equipment shelter and appurtenances, and shall verify that radio frequency (electromagnetic) emissions are in compliance with the regulations of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
(k) The applicant shall submit a plan documenting how the wireless telecommunication facility will be maintained on the site in an ongoing manner that meets industry standards.
(l) On each biennial anniversary of the issuance of the building permit for a wireless telecommunication facility, or not more than ninety days prior thereto, the owner/operator shall submit to the City a report prepared by a licensed professional engineer or engineers which shall verify continued compliance of the facility with all governmental requirements, including, but not limited to, the structural integrity and stability of any towers or antennae, electrical safety standards and auxiliary power source safety standards.
(m) Except as required by law, no antenna or tower shall be illuminated and no lighting fixtures or signs shall be attached to the antenna or tower. If lighting is required by Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations, the most visually non- obtrusive state-of-the-art lighting available shall be used, unless otherwise required by the FAA.
(n) A security fence not less than eight (8) feet in height shall fully enclose those portions of the wireless telecommunication facility which come in contact with the ground. Gates shall be locked at all times.
(o) A landscaped buffer area of not less than fifteen (15) feet in depth shall be placed between the wireless telecommunication facilities and the public rights-of-way and any adjacent properties from which a direct view can be had of the facilities, other than the tower itself. The fifteen-foot landscaped buffer shall have a tight screen fence of hardy evergreen shrubbery not less than six feet in height within two (2) years of planting. The landscaping shall be continuously maintained and promptly restored, if necessary.
(p) No advertising sign or signs or devices shall be permitted anywhere on a wireless telecommunication tower or on the site.
(q) A permanent warning sign with a minimum size of two square feet and a maximum size of six square feet shall be posted on the site as well as an emergency telephone number of the owner/operator of each set of antennae on the site. The owner/operator shall also provide the Zoning Administrator, the City Fire Department and the City Police Department with information on whom to contact, an address and a telephone number in the event of an emergency.
(r) There shall be no outdoor storage of equipment or other items on the site except during the facility construction period and to supply emergency power to the facility only during a power outage.
(s) The access driveway to the wireless telecommunication facility shall, whenever feasible, be provided along with circulation driveways of the existing use on the lot, if any. Where use of an existing driveway is not feasible, the driveway to the facility shall be a minimum of eighteen feet in width with a minimum overhead clearance of eleven feet and shall be set back a minimum of twenty feet from the nearest side or rear lot line. This driveway shall meet the load limitations for fire equipment. If the access road to the facility extends more than 1,500 feet from the public right-of-way, a turnaround shall be provided for emergency vehicles at the site and a by-pass, adequate for emergency vehicles, with an approachable access shall be provided for each additional 1,500 feet of the driveway. There shall be a maximum of one off-street parking space on the site.
(t) The wireless telecommunication antennae shall be of a panel design and mounted flush to the tower, building or structure which elevates the antennae, unless the applicant can demonstrate that it is not feasible from an engineering standpoint to use such antennae or to mount them in such a fashion.
(u) After issuance of a building permit to construct a wireless telecommunication facility, the applicant shall commence construction within 180 days and shall complete construction within one year or the building permit shall expire.
(v) The maximum cumulative total size of all equipment shelters accessory to a telecommunication tower or antenna on a lot shall be 600 square feet and their maximum height shall not exceed fifteen feet from building grade. Where it is technically feasible and reasonably practical, an existing building or structure on a lot shall be used to shelter the equipment associated with a wireless telecommunication facility.
(w) All utility lines from the utility source to the wireless telecommunication facility shall be underground.
(x) If at any time the use of the wireless telecommunication facility is discontinued for 180 consecutive days, said facility shall be deemed abandoned. The Zoning Administrator shall notify the applicant in writing and advise such applicant that the facility must be reactivated within ninety days or it must be dismantled and removed from the site within that same ninety-day period at the cost of the owner/operator. The owner/operator of the telecommunication facility shall, on no less than an annual basis from the date of issuance of the building permit, file a declaration with the Zoning Administrator as to the continuing operation of every facility which is subject to this chapter.
(y) The owner/operator of the wireless telecommunication facility shall be required as condition of issuance of a zoning permit to post a cash or surety bond acceptable to the Director of Law of not less than three hundred dollars ($300.00) per vertical foot from natural grade of the wireless telecommunication tower, which bond shall assure the faithful performance of the terms and conditions of this Chapter and conditions of the Wireless Permit issued pursuant to this Chapter, and to insure that an abandoned, obsolete or destroyed wireless telecommunication antenna or tower shall be removed within 180 days of cessation of use and abandonment. Any successor-in-interest or assignee of the owner/operator shall be required to additionally execute such bond, as principal, to insure that the bond will be in place during the period of time that the successor-in-interest or assignee occupies the facility.
(Ord. 45-08. Passed 12-15-08.)