§ 232. Communication towers; building-mounted antennas; small wireless facilities.

(a)

Purpose; applicability.

(1)

The purpose of this section is to (1) facilitate the provision of wireless communications services to the citizens and businesses of the city; (2) minimize the risk of physical damage and other potential adverse impacts of communications towers; (3) require, where commercially reasonable, the joint use of communications towers by providers of wireless telecommunications services so as to avoid unnecessary proliferation of communication towers and related facilities; and (4) allow the use of public property under circumstances in which such use (i) minimizes the potential adverse visual and other impacts of communication towers and their appurtenances; (ii) does not adversely affect the operation of public facilities such as public safety communications facilities and water tanks for their primary purpose; and (iii) conforms to applicable requirements pertaining to the use of public property for purposes of communication tower siting.

(2)

Notwithstanding the provisions of section 105(d) of this ordinance, any co-location of antenna arrays or other modifications to a communication tower or base station that substantially changes, whether individually or cumulatively, the physical dimensions of such tower or base station, shall require a new or modified conditional use permit. For purpose of this section, the standards set forth in Title 47, Part 1, Subpart CC of the Code of Federal Regulations (47 C.F.R. § 1.40001 et seq.), or any successor regulation, shall be determinative of whether a co-location or other modification substantially changes the physical dimensions of a communication tower or base station.

(b)

Preapplication conference. Prior to submitting an application for a conditional use permit for a communication tower, the applicant shall meet with the director of planning or his designee in order to discuss:

(1)

The feasibility of co-locating the proposed antenna facilities on an existing communication tower or other suitable structure, including a publicly-owned facility, where such use will not adversely affect the primary use of such facility;

(2)

The availability of suitable alternative sites, including publicly-owned sites, for the proposed communication tower;

(3)

Specific issues presented by the proposed application, including, but not limited to, potential interference with governmental public safety communications facilities, potential visual and other impacts on nearby properties and means, if any, of eliminating or mitigating such potential impacts;

(4)

The feasibility of camouflaging wireless telecommunications equipment; and

(5)

Such other matters as may be relevant to the application,

No application for a conditional use permit for a communication tower shall be accepted by the planning director unless a preapplication conference has been held.

(c)

Application requirements. In addition to the information required by section 221, applications for a conditional use permit shall include the following items:

(1)

A site plan or plan drawn to scale, showing the location and design of the proposed tower, including any accessory buildings or other appurtenances, vehicular parking areas, access points, landscaped areas, adjacent land uses, and any other information required by the planning director;

(2)

A landscaping plan showing the type, size, number and location of plant materials, including existing trees or other plant materials to be used;

(3)

A report from a professional engineer licensed in Virginia, under seal, detailing the height, design and total anticipated capacity of the proposed tower, including the number and type of antennas that can be accommodated, and any other information deemed necessary by the Building Code Administrator to determine whether such tower conforms to the requirements of the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code. Such report shall also include a certification from the engineer that the tower is capable of supporting the total anticipated capacity of the tower, including all appurtenances;

(4)

A certification from a professional engineer licensed in Virginia, under seal, that all antennas or antenna arrays intended to be affixed to the proposed tower comply with all applicable regulations promulgated by the Federal Communications Commission pertaining to the emission of radio frequency radiation;

(5)

Where the proposed communication tower is to be located within one-quarter mile of any residential or apartment zoning district or use, an application shall be supplemented by the following materials no later than 30 days prior to the date of the public hearing before the planning commission:

a.

Balloon tests, computer-generated photographic simulations showing such tower in the proposed location, visibility maps, and any other information deemed necessary by the planning director to assess the visual impact of the tower and its appurtenances; and

b.

A summary of the applicant's planned contacts with the residents of the area regarding the proposed tower. The applicant shall, as soon as practicable after such contacts have occurred, notify the Planning Director of the substance of such contacts, including the neighborhoods or other areas in which residents were contacted by the applicant;

(6)

Verifiable information satisfactory to the planning director of the lack of available space or structural capacity for the applicant's wireless telecommunications equipment on (i) existing towers, buildings or other structures, (ii) sites on which existing towers are located, or (iii) sites on which the proposed tower would be less visible from or located a greater distance from residential or apartment districts than the proposed location. Information submitted to demonstrate such findings shall include, but not be limited to:

a.

The absence of existing towers or other structures meeting the height, structural strength or other technical needs of the applicant within the appropriate geographic area;

b.

Engineering analyses demonstrating that the applicant's proposed equipment would cause interference with the equipment on an existing tower of other structure, or the equipment on an existing tower or other structure would cause interference with the applicant's proposed equipment; or

c.

Evidence that the rents, fees or other contractual provisions required to co-locate the applicant's antenna equipment on an existing communications tower, or to construct a communications tower on property to be purchased or leased, would be commercially unreasonable in light of the location of the proposed facilities;

(7)

Where the proposed communication tower or antenna is to be located within one (1) mile of an existing or planned public safety communications facility, an intermodulation study submitted by a professional engineer licensed in Virginia, under seal. Such study shall:

a.

Include the frequencies used by the city or other public entity for public safety purposes at any site within one (1) mile of the proposed facility;

b.

Analyze 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 7th order intermodulation calculations using the maximum number of signals for each order; and

c.

Include the frequencies used for each intermodulation order calculation, the name of the channel used and the bandwidth of each channel;

(8)

A geographical map, with sufficient markings and detail, illustrating that the proposed communications equipment will not be located within a two-hundred-foot buffer of the microwave path between any existing public safety communications sites; and

(9)

Where the proposed wireless communication equipment is to be located on a water tank or within the secure area of any water tank site, a security plan showing the times at which access to the proposed equipment will be allowed, the identities of the persons with authorized access to such facilities and such other information as the director of public utilities may require; provided, however, if such security plan is incorporated in a lease between the city and the applicant, this requirement shall be waived.

(d)

Locational and design requirements. In determining whether to grant or deny a conditional use permit application for a new or expanded communication tower or other wireless telecommunication equipment, the city council shall give primary consideration to the following factors:

(1)

Whether the antennas or other equipment intended to be affixed to such tower cannot be accommodated on an existing or approved tower within such radius as is reasonably necessary to provide adequate coverage and capacity for any of the following reasons:

a.

The planned equipment would exceed the height or structural capacity of the existing or approved tower, and the existing or approved tower cannot reasonably be modified so as to accommodate the planned equipment, as documented by a licensed professional engineer;

b.

The planned equipment would cause electromagnetic interference affecting the usage of other existing or approved equipment, and such interference cannot reasonably be prevented; or

c.

Existing or approved communication towers or other structures within such radius cannot accommodate the planned equipment at a height necessary for its proper functioning;

(2)

Whether the proposed communication tower is designed structurally and in all other respects to accommodate both the planned equipment and comparable equipment of at least two (2) additional users if the proposed tower is greater than one hundred (100) feet in height or at least one (1) additional user if the proposed tower is less than one hundred (100) feet in height; and

(3)

Whether the proposed application conforms, if applicable, to the requirements of subsection (h), pertaining to public safety communications facilities and water tanks; and

(4)

Whether the applicant has agreed, in writing, to allow the co-location of the equipment of other wireless telecommunications providers, to the extent of the capacity of the proposed communication tower, upon commercially reasonable terms applicable to the location of the proposed tower.

(e)

Construction requirements. All communication towers constructed or expanded after the adoption of this section shall comply with or exceed all applicable requirements of the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code, including all model codes incorporated therein. In addition, all such towers shall be non-illuminated and painted such color or colors as to minimize visibility, unless otherwise required by Federal Aviation Administration, Federal Communications Commission or other applicable laws or regulations.

(f)

Landscaping and screening requirements. Landscaping and screening shall conform to the following standards:

(1)

Existing trees on the lot or within the leased area or other area within the control of the applicant shall be preserved to the maximum extent practicable;

(2)

To the extent permitted by applicable setback requirements, towers shall be located on a site so as to maximize the effectiveness of trees as screening;

(3)

For towers one hundred (100) feet or less in height, at least one (1) row of evergreen shrubs forming a continuous hedge at least five (5) feet in height, with individual plantings spaced not more than five (5) feet apart, shall be provided. In addition, at least one (1) row of evergreen trees with a minimum caliper of one and three-fourths (1¾) inches at the time of planting and spaced not more than twenty-five (25) feet apart shall be provided within fifteen (15) feet of the perimeter of the required setback line;

(4)

For towers more than one hundred (100) feet in height, in addition to the requirements of subdivision (3) above, one (1) row of deciduous trees, with a minimum caliper of two and one-half (2½) inches at time of planting and spaced not more than forty (40) feet apart shall be provided within twenty-five (25) feet of the perimeter of the required setback;

(5)

All required landscaping shall: (i) be installed in accordance with established procedures using plant materials of good quality, (ii) be installed by the first planting season following the granting of a conditional use permit, unless appropriate surety in form acceptable to the city attorney is first provided, and (iii) at all times be maintained in healthy and growing condition.

Existing landscaping meeting the requirements of this section or other screening may be used to satisfy the foregoing standards, which may be modified by the city council as it deems appropriate.

(g)

Setback requirements. The following setback requirements shall apply to communication towers other than those affixed to electrical transmission line structures:

(1)

Minimum side and rear yard setbacks, as measured from the base of the communication tower, excluding its appurtenances, shall be fifty (50) feet in residential, apartment, mixed-use and agricultural districts and twenty-five (25) feet in all other districts, provided, however, that no tower shall be located closer to an existing residential or apartment structure than a distance equal to one hundred twenty-five (125) percent of the height of the tower and provided further, that the minimum setback from any street, as measured from the base of the tower, shall be fifty (50) feet. Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions, the city council may require a greater or lesser setback when it deems such other setback to be necessary or advisable to protect existing or future structures from damage, to enhance the screening effect of on- or off- site trees or other vegetation, or for other appropriate reasons.

(2)

Minimum setbacks of equipment buildings shall be as specified in the zoning district regulations.

(h)

Public safety communications facilities; water tanks. In light of the special security and public safety concerns applicable to sites occupied by city facilities such as public safety communications facilities and water tanks, the following additional requirements shall apply:

(1)

Public safety communications facilities. No private wireless telecommunications facilities shall be allowed: (i) on sites with public safety communications facilities or within the secure compounds of such sites; (ii) in any location at which the director or communication and information technology determines, based upon an intermodulation study required by subdivision (7) of subsection (c), that the operation of the proposed wireless telecommunications facilities would present a substantial possibility of causing interference with one or more public safety communications facilities and cannot be satisfactorily mitigated; or (iii) in any location within a two-hundred-foot buffer of the microwave path of any existing or future public safety communications microwave facility.

(2)

Water tanks. No private wireless telecommunications facilities shall be allowed on any city water tank or within the secure area of any water tank site unless there is a demonstrable public need for wireless telecommunications services in the area to be served by such facilities and there is no reasonable alternative site available. In such cases, the applicant shall be required, as a condition of the conditional use permit, to comply at all times with a security plan approved by the city council.

(i)

Other requirements. The following additional regulations shall apply to all communication towers:

(1)

No signage shall be permitted on any communication tower;

(2)

All communication towers and their appurtenances shall comply with applicable regulations of the Federal Communications Commission and Federal Aviation Administration. Where regulations and requirements of this section conflict with those of the Federal Communications Commission or the Federal Aviation Administration, the federal requirement shall govern;

(3)

All communication towers shall be subject to periodic reinspection by the building code administrator. If any additions, changes or modifications are to be made to the structural characteristics of the tower, the building code administrator shall have the authority to require proof, through the submission of engineering and structural data, that the addition, change or modification conforms to structural wind load and all other requirements of the Uniform Statewide Building Code; and

(4)

Any communication tower or wireless telecommunications equipment that are not in use for a period of one (1) year shall be removed within ninety (90) days after notification by the planning director. If not so removed, the city may contract for their removal and charge the cost thereof to the owner of the communication tower or wireless telecommunications equipment.

(j)

Special provisions for communication towers affixed to electric transmission line structures and building-mounted antennas.

(1)

Communication towers affixed to electric transmission line structures and building-mounted antennas shall be allowed as principal uses where so permitted in the district regulations, provided that the following requirements are met:

a.

Communication towers and building-mounted antennas shall be made of materials or painted in such manner as to match, to the maximum extent practicable, the color of the structure upon which they are affixed or mounted;

b.

Communication towers shall not project above the top of the structure to which they are affixed by more than twenty (20) percent of the height of the structure;

c.

The owner of the communication tower or his agent submits to the planning director a list containing the name and last known address of the owner of all abutting lots, as shown on the current real estate tax assessment books or current real estate tax assessment records. The planning director shall thereafter notify such property owners of the filing of the site plan or building permit application seeking approval of the communication tower. No such site plan or building permit shall be approved for a period of seven (7) days from the mailing of the notices; and

d.

Building-mounted antennas shall conform to the requirements of section 207.

(2)

Communication towers affixed to electric transmission line structures and building-mounted antennas not meeting the applicable requirements of this section may be permitted as conditional uses where so provided by the regulations of the district in which they are located.

(k)

Temporary communication towers not meeting the requirements of section 207 may be allowed as conditional uses where so provided by the regulations of the district in which they are located. Small wireless facilities not placed on existing structures may be allowed as conditional uses where so provided by the regulations of the district in which they are located.

(Ord. No. 3046, 8-26-08; Ord. No. 3403, 4-21-15; Ord. No. 3514, 7-11-17)

(Ord. No. 3046, 8-26-08; Ord. No. 3403, 4-21-15; Ord. No. 3514, 7-11-17)