Irvine Municipal Code Ch. 2-37.6 Eligible Facilities Permit

It is the intent and purpose of this section to establish procedures whereby the City may grant an eligible facilities permit for proposed repairs, replacements, or modifications to existing wireless communications facilities that qualify as "eligible facilities requests" within the meaning of 47 U.S.C. Section 1455(a).

(Ord. No. 16-05, § 3(Att. 1), 7-26-16)

Unless specifically exempt by federal or state law, all applications for the installation of wireless communications facilities that constitute "eligible facilities requests" within the meaning of 47 U.S.C. Section 1455(a) require the approval of an Eligible Facilities Permit prior to construction of such eligible facility.

(Ord. No. 16-05, § 3(Att. 1), 7-26-16)

An eligible facilities permit application shall be approved or denied within 60 days of the application submittal date; provided, however, that (1) said period may be tolled by mutual agreement, or (2) if the City finds the application incomplete and advises the applicant in writing that the application is incomplete within 30 days of receipt of the application, then the sixty-day timeframe shall be tolled until such time as the applicant makes a supplemental response to the City's notice of incompleteness. Should the City find the supplemental response lacking, the City shall have ten days to notify the applicant that the supplemental submission is incomplete, and, if such notification is provided, the 60-day time frame shall be tolled again until such time as the applicant makes a further supplemental response.

(Ord. No. 16-05, § 3(Att. 1), 7-26-16)

The Community Development Department designee shall approve an eligible facilities permit.

(Ord. No. 16-05, § 3(Att. 1), 7-26-16)

An applicant may appeal a decision of the Community Development Department to deny an eligible facilities permit request. In such case, the appeal shall go before the Planning Commission for review and action in accordance with the appeal procedures set forth in Chapter 2-5.

Public notice of an appeal hearing shall be given in accordance with the public hearing procedures set forth in Chapter 2-23.

(Ord. No. 16-05, § 3(Att. 1), 7-26-16)

A. Only the owner of the property on which the eligible support structure is situated or the authorized agent of such a property owner may request an eligible facilities permit.

B. An eligible facilities permit shall be submitted for processing in conjunction with a building permit application and shall include the information listed below:

1. A complete development case application signed by the property owner or its authorized representative.

2. A completed eligible facilities permit checklist, and all of the associated materials listed in the checklist, which is available from the Community Development Department, or its website.

3. A completed Substantial Change Criteria Questionnaire, which is available from the Community Development Department, or its website.

4. A deposit or fee as required for processing of the associated building permit.

C. Eligible facilities permits will not be processed in batches. Each eligible facilities permit for proposed repairs, replacements, or modifications to existing wireless communications facilities shall be processed individually as required by this chapter.

(Ord. No. 16-05, § 3(Att. 1), 7-26-16; Ord. No. 24-15, Exh. A, 9-24-24)

Prior to issuance of an eligible facilities permit pursuant to this chapter, the following findings shall be made to the satisfaction of the Community Development Department designee:

A. A complete application has been submitted.

B. The proposed eligible facilities permit qualifies as an eligible facility pursuant to the criteria established in the City's Substantial Change Criteria Questionnaire.

C. The proposed project meets all the requirements set forth in Section 3-8-5.2 (Objective Standards) and Section 3-8-5.3 (Objective Concealment Standards).

D. The proposed eligible facilities permit does not defeat any of the concealment elements of the underlying approval and complies with the respective class type concealment measures in Section 3-8-5.3 associated with the attached eligible support structure.

E. All illegal structures or facilities, or other issues relating to non-compliance with applicable laws and regulations, have been corrected.

(Ord. No. 16-05, § 3(Att. 1), 7-26-16)

Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter to the contrary, an applicant may request an exemption to excuse it from having to comply with this chapter on the grounds that the requirement or action taken by the City would violate state or federal law. The City shall grant the exemption or excuse an applicant from compliance with all or a portion of this chapter, if it finds based on substantial evidence in the record that the challenged requirement or action is preempted by state or federal law.

(Ord. No. 16-05, § 3(Att. 1), 7-26-16)