Agenda - 09-03-1996 - VIII-G - Laserfiche WebLink

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52 • JUNE 1"s ZONIJV PLAHNM Iffs,wuauw WN Local Planning Issues in end of last year.That, in turn, has expanded the number of cellular transmission sites co 17,920 last December from just Siting Cellular Towers 384 a decade earlier. In response to both the increasing demand for mobile By Michele Gregory communication options and a very aggressive lobbying effort by the industry,the FCC opened another portion of the airwaves for In coming months,communities may lose the right to regulate the industry use.On Much 14, the agency completed the biggest siting of cellular telephone towers,just as that industry is emerging auction in U.S.history,lasting three months and costing as a major player in the larger telecommunications industry.The telecommunications carriers$7 billion.The airwave rights were Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association(CTIA)filed a divided geographically into 99 licenses that went to commercial petition with the Federal Communications Commission(FCC) mobile radio service(CMRS) carriers nationwide.The licenses last December that asks for federal preemption of local zoning were awarded to the highest bidders among a combination of powers over cellular transmission facilities.-This issue of Zoning older and newly formed companies.The FCC will auction more Neua aims to acquaint local planners with the impacts,real and licenses later this year to accommodate private mobile radio perceived,of cellular towers.Local siting regulations,staff reports, service(PMRS)carriers,which serve freight transporters,public and telecommunications plans from 15 jurisdictions were reviewed safety entities,citizens band radio,and ham operators.The newly to provide a summary of siting considerarions. licensed carriers are already acquiring sites for towers and their Planners should understand that some jurisdictions regulate accompanying equipment buildings.Where a market exism for cellular towers specifically,while others have regulations that cellular communications,local government must be prepared to apply to"communication towers"generally.Wherever possible, deal with siting issues. we have tried to cull examples of regulatory techniques specific The industry's growth to cellular technology.These varying degrees of specificity also cam li)krd cellular has outpaced many local tower.-a solution to exist in the regulations of many state communications and zoning governments'ability to public utilities agencies.Planners should leam their state's _ understand the impacts of bureaucsanc structure and its definition of communication _ cellular cowers and, cowers before drafting local regulations. therefore,to properly site Representatives of the cellular industry were also consulted and regulate them.The for this article.In contrast to the cone of the CTIA petition, situation is further many expressed an eagerness to work with APA and local complicated when residents, communities to educate planners and citizens toward the • ` expressing alarm over the development of safe,fair,and informed regulations, aesthetic and reported health-related effects of C61101W His" cellular towers,prompt In 1974,the FCC expanded the radio spectrum available to the =_..- hasy>reactionary public in order to make room fair budding cellular telecommu ti , .' ' regulation.To avoid writing nications technology.Through the mid198Os.the industry ''_ bad law,some communities worked to develop higher-quality transmission device.Cellular ;�r; have instituted siting technology was first marketed-to consumers in the form of the moratoriums until they have car phone.It presented"yvverammts with the phenomena " ample opportunity to of cellular telephone aasesnaa and the towers on which day are research and formulate mounted—towers that hd to be erected somewhere in the ,, regulations that are fair to community. Unlike gegrrd wised telecommunications,cellular both the community and technology made it pon&k for a caller to travel while eommu- the industry. nicating with someone at a eommcional telephone or with Both trends have put another mobile user.Cellular technology,explained in greater carriers on the offensive. derail below,operates on a fixed number of channels that share Thwarted by local"learning the same radio wave.As a mobile user passes through"cells" curves and regulatory that parcel the landscape into a transmitting grid,the aUei s barriers"in their efforts to break into new markets,they have connection is"patched"from one cell antenna co the nett. sought powerful remedie.The CTIA petition argues that the Twenty yeah later,personal communication services(PCS) supremacy clause(section 332)of the 1934 Federal have expanded to include hand-held portable phones and Communications Act authorizes preemption of state and local paging systems,and they are everywhere.A survey in the regulation of cellular tower siting.AAA,in a letter to the FCC. January 1993 issue of Consumer Reports reported that cellular expressed opposition to such preemption.In March,executive technology added an average of 7,300 users per day in 1992, director Michael Barker cold the FCC that local communities bringing the U.S.total to about 10 million.Those numbers and planners are in the best position to balance their concerns have continued to grow,reaching more than 24 million by the with the needs of the cellular industry.The National