Article I — General Provisions and Definitions

This chapter is enacted to establish a consistent set of standards regulating the placement and design of all types of communication facilities in the city. These standards are intended to protect and promote public health, safety, community welfare and the unique visual character of the city by encouraging the orderly development of communication infrastructure. It is the intent of the city council that these regulations serve to:

Protect residential areas and other land uses from potential adverse impacts of towers and antennas;

Encourage the location of towers and re-generation facilities in nonresidential areas;

Minimize the number of towers throughout the community;

Strongly encourage the joint use of new and existing tower sites as a primary option rather than construction of additional single-use towers;

Encourage users of towers and antennas to locate them, to the extent possible, in areas where the adverse impact on the community is minimal;

Encourage users of towers and antennas to configure them in a way that minimizes the adverse visual impact of the towers and antennas through careful design, siting, landscape screening, and innovative camouflaging techniques;

Enhance the ability of the providers of telecommunications services to provide such services to the community quickly, effectively, and efficiently;

Consider the public health and safety of communication towers;

Avoid potential damage to adjacent properties from tower failure through engineering and careful siting of tower structures. All towers are to be engineered for the environment in which they are to be located and for the expected loading;

Encourage the due consideration of the city's general plan, zoning map, existing land uses, and environmentally sensitive areas in approving sites for the location of towers and antennas;

Minimize the amount of private infrastructure systems in public right-of-ways.

(Ord. No. 2000-09, § 1.)

For the purposes of this chapter, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them by this subsection.

"Alternative tower structure" means man-made trees, clock towers, bell steeples, light poles and similar alternative-design mounting structures that camouflage or conceal the presence of antennas or towers.

"Amateur radio (HAM) operator" means a person holding a written authorization to be the control operator of an amateur radio facility. This authorization shall be in the form of a license or permit issued by the Federal Communications Commission or a foreign national or multi-national license or permit recognized by treaty as valid in the United States.

"Amateur radio (HAM) service" means radio communication services, including the amateur-satellite service and the amateur service, which are for the purpose of self-training, intercommunication and technical investigations carried out by amateurs who are duly authorized persons interested in radio technique solely with a personal aim and without pecuniary interest, as defined in Title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 97 and regulated thereunder.

"Amateur radio (HAM) facility" means a wireless communication facility operated by a federally-licensed amateur radio operator as part of the amateur radio services.

"Antenna" means any system of towers, poles, panels, rods, wires, drums, reflecting discs or similar devices used for the transmission or reception of electromagnetic waves. The distinction is made between the support structure and the antenna(s) mounted thereon. See also satellite dish or satellite antenna.

"Backhaul network" means the lines that connect a provider's towers/cell sites to one or more cellular telephone switching offices, and/or long distance providers, or the public switched telephone network.

"Broadcast" means to transmit a signal for direct reception by the general public.

"Broadband" means pertaining to a transmission system or facility with an information bandwidth capacity greater than a single voice channel (three kHz).

"Camouflaged tower" means any telecommunication tower that due to design or appearance to the extent possible hides, obscures, or conceals the presence of the tower and antennas.

"Cell means a geographic area covered by a single cellular, ESMR or PCS transmitter.

"Cellular network" means a system providing mobile telephone services through all the cells in a coverage area. A coverage area consists of multiple adjacent cells operating on slightly different frequencies. Calls are "handed-off" from one cell to the next as a mobile unit moves from cell to cell. This is the fundamental innovation that has allowed for the development of cellular, ESMR and mobile PCS services.

"Cellular telephone system" means a mobile radio system that connects subscriber hand held devices to each other through the cellular network and with wireline telephones through the public switched network.

"Co-location" means the installation of wireless communication facilities owned and/or operated by two or more entities on a single structure or tower.

"Commercial wireless communication facility means a wireless communication facility operated by a for-profit business, and includes commercial private wireless communication facilities and commercial public wireless communication facilities.

"Commercial private wireless communication facility" means a wireless communication facility operated by a for-profit business for its own internal purposes and without supplying access to members of the general public. See, by contrast, non-commercial wireless communication facility and commercial public wireless communication facility.

"Commercial public wireless communication facility" means a wireless communication facility operated by a for-profit business whose business is provision of wireless communication services to subscribers or the general public. See, by contrast, non-commercial wireless communication facility and commercial private wireless communication facility.

"Enhanced specialized mobile radio service (ESMR)" means a specialized mobile radio service (SMR) system (see definition below) which utilizes digital cellular technology to enable wide-area coverage as well as interconnection with other users and the cellular and public switched (land line) telephone networks.

"FAA" means the Federal Aviation Administration.

"FCC" means the Federal Communications Commission.

"Federal Communications Commission (FCC)" means the federal regulatory agency established and provided for in Title 47, U.S. Code, and charged with regulation of communication by wire and radio (which includes broadcast and non-broadcast communication of any type).

"Gigahertz (GHz)" means a unit of measurement of radio frequency equal to one billion hertz (cycles per second). One gigahertz is equivalent to one thousand megahertz (MHZ). Microwave frequencies are usually expressed in gigahertz.

"Ground-mounted antenna" means an antenna, which is attached to a support structure resting on the ground, and has an overall height not greater than fifteen feet above finished grade at the base of the structure. This definition includes antennas, which are sometimes referred to as "post mounts" and "ground builds."

"Grouped facility" means the installation of several wireless communication facilities owned and/or operated by two or more entities on separate structures or towers within a single parcel and with each facility no more than one hundred feet from at least one other facility.

"Guyed tower" means a telecommunications tower that is supported in whole or in part by guy wires and ground anchors or other means of support besides the superstructure of the tower itself.

"Height" when referring to a tower or other structure, the distance measured from the finished grade of the parcel to the highest point on the tower or other structure, including the base pad and any antenna.

"Kilohertz (kHz)"means a unit of measurement of radio frequency equal to one thousand hertz (cycles per second). One thousand kilohertz is equivalent to one megahertz (MHZ). AM and "shortwave" broadcast frequencies are usually expressed in kilohertz.

"Lattice tower" means a telecommunication tower that consists of vertical and horizontal supports and crossed metal braces which is entirely self-supporting.

"Megahertz (MHZ)" means a unit of measurement of radio frequency equal to one million hertz (cycles per second). One thousand kilohertz is equivalent to one megahertz, and one thousand megahertz is equivalent to one gigahertz. FM and TV broadcast frequencies and "VHF" and "UHF" communication frequencies are usually expressed in megahertz.

"Monopole" means a telecommunication tower of a single pole design.

"Non-commercial wireless communication facility" means a wireless communication facility operated by a government agency, a non-profit organization, or a private citizen for personal use. It includes all amateur radio facilities. See, by contrast, commercial wireless communication facility.

"Non-conforming" means any pre-existing telecommunications facility that was in existence prior to the adoption of the ordinance codified in this chapter and that has not been issued a conditional use permit or was issued a conditional use permit prior to the adoption date of the ordinance codified in this chapter. This definition shall only apply to this specific chapter and shall not apply to other city zoning ordinances.

"Operator" means any person or organization that controls the operation and maintenance of a wireless communication facility.

"Paging" means a wireless communication service that communicates a limited message to subscriber units which are relatively small and can be carried on the subscriber's person. Current paging systems are one-way (subscriber receives the message) but future systems can be two-way in nature. Paging systems are not considered "real time" interactive systems.

"Personal communications services (PCS)" means digital wireless services that offer high quality voice and data communication.

"Platform" means a support system that may be used to connect antennas and antenna arrays to telecommunication towers or alternative support structures.

"Preexisting towers and preexisting antennas" means any tower or antenna for which a building permit or special use permit has been properly issued prior to the effective date of the ordinance codified in this chapter, including permitted towers or antennas that have not yet been constructed so long as such approval is current and not expired.

"Radio" means a generic term for communication of sound, data, or energy by means of electromagnetic wave propagation. For regulatory purposes "radio" includes the popular terms "television" and "microwave". The term "wireless" is interchangeable with "radio" and is the popular term in several other English-speaking countries and some translations.

"Radio-frequency (RF)" means a description pertaining to the electromagnetic spectrum between the audio-frequency portion and the infrared portion.

"Radio-frequency exposure professional" means a certified professional electrical engineer, health physicist or other technical expert with an understanding of the effects and measurement of exposure of the human body to radio frequency energy. Such professional must have substantial professional experience performing environmental measurements of radio frequency (RF) exposure and preparing radio frequency exposure evaluation reports for a variety of entities.

"Regeneration facility" means a structure, equipment or facility that primarily is used to enhance the transmission of the system by "boosting" or "upgrading" the signal being transmitted through wire, fiber optic or other media. It generally includes ground-based equipment housed in an unmanned shelter that requires electricity and communication connections. This term may also mean repeater facilities or amplification facilities.

"Roof-mounted" means an antenna that is mounted directly to, or on a support structure mounted to, the roof or otherwise on the top most level or levels of a building exterior.

"Satellite dish or satellite antenna" means an antenna incorporating a reflective surface that is solid, open mesh, or bar configured to form a shallow dish, cone, horn or cornucopia used to transmit and/or receive electromagnetic signals to or from a satellite. This definition includes antennas that are sometimes called "SES," "TVRO," "TVBS," and "DBS" antennas.

"Satellite transmission" means a communication system involving signals sent to ("uplink") and/or by ("downlink") an orbiting communication relay satellite.

"Satellite dish" means a device incorporating a reflective surface that is solid, open mesh, or bar configured that is shallow dish, cone, horn or cornucopia shaped and is used to transmit and/or receive electromagnetic signals. This definition is meant to include, but is not limited to, what are commonly referred to as satellite earth stations, TVRO's and satellite microwave antennas.

"Site" means a legal parcel accommodating a wireless communication facility.

"Specialized mobile radio (SMR)" means a radio system in which licensees provide land mobile communication services in the eight hundred MHZ and nine hundred MHZ bands on a commercial basis to entities eligible to be licensed in the private radio services (Part 90 of the FCC Rules), federal government entities and individuals. See also enhanced specialized mobile radio system (ESMR).

"Stealth mount" means a way of mounting an antenna that hides the antenna by making it appear to be a part of a structure, tree or other natural object.

"Structure-mounted" means any antenna which (1) is not attached to a dedicated support structure resting on the ground and (2) is attached to a building, billboard, tank, sign, utility pole, or other structure. This definition includes antennas sometimes referred to as "facade mounts" and "sign mounts."

"Telecommunication facility" means a facility, site or location that contains one or more antennas, telecommunication towers, alternative support structures, satellite dish antennas, other similar communication devices and support equipment which is used for transmitting, receiving or relaying telecommunications signals excluding those facilities exempted under Section 8C.4.

"Telecommunication facility co-located" means a telecommunication facility comprised of a single telecommunication tower or building supporting multiple antennas, dishes or similar devices owned or used by more than one public or private entity.

"Telecommunication support facility" means the telecommunication equipment buildings and equipment cabinets.

"Telecommunications tower" means any structure that is designed and constructed primarily for the purpose of supporting one or more antennas, including camouflaged towers, lattice towers, guy towers or monopole towers. This includes radio and television transmission towers, microwave towers, and common-carrier towers. It shall exclude alternative support structures and those facilities exempted under Section 8C.4.

"Tower" means a dedicated support structure resting on the ground or attached to another structure, whose principal use is to support wireless communication equipment.

"Tower-mounted" means any antenna which is attached to a tower and has an overall height greater than ten feet above finished grade at the base of the structure. This definition includes antennas that are sometimes referred to as "monopoles," "lattice towers" and "guyed towers."

"Wireless communication" means electronic communication using radio signals sent between two or more points.

"Wireless communication facility" means the equipment and associated unmanned structures needed to transmit and/or receive electromagnetic signals. A wireless communication facility typically includes antennas, supporting structures, enclosures and/or cabinets housing associated equipment, cable, service parking, and access. Receive-only radio and television antennas and satellite dishes or antennas are excluded from this definition.

"Wireline communication" means electronic communication using physical connections such as wire cables or fiber optics to transmit signals between two or more points.

(Ord. No. 2000-09, § 1.)