(A) The Zoning Board and City Council have, on numerous occasions and with increasing frequency, been confronted with requests to site communications towers and antennas. The purpose of this subchapter is to establish general guidelines for the siting of towers and antennas.
(B) The goals of this subchapter are to:
(1) Encourage the location of towers on public property and in non-residential areas and to minimize the total number of towers throughout the city;
(2) Encourage strongly the joint use of new and existing tower sites;
(3) Encourage users of towers and antennas to locate them, to the extent possible, in areas where the adverse impact on the city is minimal;
(4) Encourage users of towers and antennas to configure them in a way that minimizes the adverse visual impact of the towers and antennas; and
(5) Enhance the ability of the providers of telecommunications services to provide such services throughout the city quickly, effectively, and efficiently.
(C) Accordingly, the City Council finds that the promulgation of this subchapter is warranted and necessary:
(1) To manage the location of towers and antennas in the city and encourage the use of public property for the placement thereof;
(2) To protect residential areas and land uses from potential adverse impacts of towers, including support structure failure and falling ice;
(3) To minimize adverse visual impacts of towers through careful design, siting, landscape screening, and innovative camouflaging techniques;
(4) To accommodate the growing need for towers;
(5) To promote and encourage shared use/co-location of existing and new towers as a primary option rather than construction of additional single-use towers, and to reduce the number of such structures needed in the future;
(6) To consider the public health and safety of towers to the extent allowed by the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (being Pub. Law No. 104-104); and
(7) To avoid potential damage to adjacent properties from antenna support structure failure and falling ice through engineering and proper siting of antenna support structures.
(a) For new uses, all new antennas shall comply with this subchapter after the date of passage.
(b) For existing uses, all towers existing on the date of passage of this subchapter shall be allowed to continue their usage as they presently exist.
(c) Routine maintenance shall be permitted on such existing towers.
(d) New construction, other than routine maintenance on existing towers, shall comply with the requirements of this subchapter.
(Prior Code, § 70.06) (Ord. 2-92, passed - -1992; Ord. 15-99, passed 12-1-1999)