14.242.010 Purpose.
The purpose of this chapter is to accommodate wireless communication facilities (WCFs) in a manner that preserves the visual and aesthetic landscape and character of the city and minimizes adverse impacts to residents. These regulations are intended to provide all purveyors of wireless services an equal opportunity to serve the community in accordance with federal law.
A. This chapter is intended to further the following objectives:
1. To establish procedural requirements and substantive criteria applicable to approval or denial of applications to modify existing WCFs or to locate and construct new WCFs in compliance with all applicable law.
2. To minimize the adverse aesthetic impacts associated with WCFs through appropriate design and siting.
3. To encourage the use of Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS) and other small cell systems that use components that are a small fraction of the size of macrocell deployments, and can be installed with little or no impact on utility support structures, buildings, and other existing structures.
4. To encourage WCFs to locate on utility poles within the public right-of-way where a location in a residential area is necessary to meet the functional requirements of the telecommunication industry as defined by the Federal Communications Commission.
5. To foster networks of telecommunications facilities that provide adequate wireless communication coverage to customers within the city and serve as an effective part of the City’s emergency response network.
6. To ensure that decisions are made in a timely, consistent and competitively neutral manner.
B. To further these objectives, the City shall give due consideration to the zoning code, existing land uses, and environmentally, culturally and historically sensitive areas when approving sites for the location of communication towers and antennas.
C. These objectives are intended to protect the public health, safety, and welfare, to protect property values, and to minimize visual impacts, while furthering the development of enhanced telecommunications services in the city. These objectives were designed to comply with the Telecommunications Act of 1996. The provisions of this chapter are not intended to and shall not be interpreted to prohibit or have the effect of prohibiting personal wireless services. This chapter shall not be applied in such a manner as to unreasonably discriminate between providers of functionally equivalent wireless communication services.
D. To the extent that any provision of this chapter is inconsistent or conflicts with any other City ordinance, this chapter shall control. Otherwise, this chapter shall be construed consistently with the other provisions and regulations of the City.