Agenda - 11-23-2009 - C3 - Laserfiche WebLink

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2 of authority that has resulted in hundreds of lawsuits in an attempt to resolve the balance intended with the 1996 Telco Act. In North Carolina, this `balancing act' culminated in 2007 with the General Assembly adopting revisions to the existing enabling legislation that allowed local governments to regulate, within limits, wireless telecommunication facilities. As a result of these amendments, local governments within North Carolina cannot call into question a providers business decision, with respect to the proposed location of a telecommunication tower, and so-called "spec" towers must be approved. ISSUE: There are portions of the County that are either not served, or are underserved, by telecommunication and/or broadband. This has become an impediment to essential County communications for several departments (i.e. Emergency Management, Sheriff, Information Technologies, Building Inspections, Health Department, etc) and has negatively impacted local residents. In staffs opinion an opportunity exists to assist Orange County departments, as well as our citizens, with this dilemma by encouraging strategic telecommunication tower location to broaden access and address communication problems. It is staffs opinion that this `opportunity' would be more in-step with the original intent of the 1996 Telco Act and in the spirit of recent amendments initiated by the North Carolina General Assembly. ORDINANCE REQUIREMENTS: Section 6.18.5 of the Ordinance addresses the development of the aforementioned Master Telecommunications Plan. The intent of the Plan is to identify preferred tower locations where property owners (including schools, OWASA, voluntary agricultural districts etc.) have expressed an interest in allowing such facilities on their property. Section 6.18.1 states that Planning Department staff members may administratively approve towers under 150 feet in height on County property, and in other specific instances, as long as the proposed tower complies with the various development standards, location requirements, testing, and plan submittal detai{s as contained within Section 8.8.17 a. The processing of the application through the general conditions and required findings of fact is not required. FUNDING OPPORTUNITY: The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was signed into law in February 2009. Part of that legislation involved the US Department of Agriculture's Rural Utility Service Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP) and the US Department of Commerce's National Technical Information Service Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP). Grant and loan programs are available through these programs to fund the extension of broadband service to the under- and un-served portions of rural America. A second round of ARRA broadband funding is tentatively scheduled for January 2010. All ARRA programs awards must be-spent by September 30, 2010. Orange County has sought technical assistance to meet the various grant program criteria in advance of this application cycle.