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Wireless Telecommunication Land Use Planning
 The
purpose and intent of a Master Telecommunications
Land Use Plan parallel the goals and objectives
of other comprehensive plans such as: roadway improvements,
annexation studies and extensions of water and sewer
lines. The master planning process applies
the land-use planning strategies of the local ordinance
to the industry related radio frequency engineering
standards to create an illustrative planning tool
that coincides with the underlying zoning.
This is accomplished by identifying existing tower
locations and signal coverage conditions; comparing
this information to the standards of the ordinance;
and a series of evaluations founded on land-use
principals and engineering practices. The
end result is a planning tool that offers strategies
to reduce tower extraneous infrastructure by improving
the efforts to merge wireless deployment thereby
minimizing tower proliferation by increasing shared
sites.
CityScape staff has over 100
years collective experience in cellular/PCS engineering, site
location technology and legal processes. While we
represent the local government in managing its
telecommunication infrastructure, we do so armed with the
background to provide fair service to the carriers in full
accordance with the Telecommunication Act of 1996.
CityScape will 'protect'
the aesthetics of the community by helping to
controlling the number of future telecommunications
sites that are located in the community.
Sites in the Master Wireless
Plan can be developed under a simplified process that
might not require special exceptions or public hearings.
While CityScape offers a wide
range of planning and management services in connection with
wireless tower siting, CityScape's primary goal is to ensure
that every facility constructed in the local government within
the client's zoning jurisdiction is designed in a manner to
ensure maximum usage of the site by as many providers as
feasible, thus effectively reducing the total number of towers
or support structure needed in the community.
Telecommunication Ordinance Review
One of the most important facets of
CityScape’s consulting process is its telecommunications legal
expertise, led by Anthony T. Lepore, Esq., a recognized
authority in the profession, who regularly represents clients
before the FCC. This puts CityScape on the leading edge of
current agenda items with the FCC and the myriad of
technologies changing on a daily basis.
CityScape legal staff in concert with
our client's legal staff, will assist
local government in the development and approval of regulations
that will comply with Section 704 of the Telecommunications
Act of 1996, specifically:
Regulations governing
the placement, construction and modification of
personal wireless service facilities which do not
discriminate among providers of functionally equivalent
services and do not prohibit or have the effect
of prohibiting the provision of cellular and personal
communication services (PCS).
Ensure requests and
authorization to place, construct or modify cellular
and PCS facilities are acted upon and in compliance
with the Telecommunications Act.
Ensure that such regulations
are not predicated on Radio Frequency (RF) emissions
and their environmental effect as long as the facilities
proposed comply with the FCC’s regulations.
Protect local governmentl
interests in historic preservation, public safety
and aesthetics, etc., to the full extent allowed
by federal law.
Maximize opportunities
for revenue, using public property for lease to
providers of wireless and other services.
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Telecommunication Master Planning
Many communities are concerned about
the proliferation of telecommunications tower build-outs from
the standpoint of aesthetics, time involved in the review and
fair deployment of these facilities, public safety issues, and
the legal implications of upholding both the public and
private interests involved. Most communities are dealing with
tower growth in an ad hoc manner, which is the most expensive
and perilous way to deal with it.
Implementation of a master wireless
plan simplifies and economizes the process. No longer is it
necessary to run each individual site approval through a
lengthy process involving numerous submissions, hearings and
delays, after sites are encompassed in a plan and considered
together as a whole. The master plan offers numerous benefits
to the local government and its citizens, as well as the carriers
who participate.
A comprehensive Master Wireless Plan
will include:
Review and revision (if necessary)
of existing ordinances and code to encourage all present and
future wireless service providers to participate in a master
plan by working with CityScape to ascertain their current
and future service needs.
Development of a comprehensive
telecommunications grid for the local government. This exclusive
benefit of CityScape is prepared in conjunction with
CityScape’s legal department. A comprehensive grid of all
telecommunications providers is the only method to assure:
Minimizing the total number of
telecommunications towers and/or sites within the
local government;
Ensuring the local government's
compliance with the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (as
amended).
Achieving the maximum revenue
potential to the local government;
Correlating of all of the
provider-furnished data together with the local government's own
sites, along with added weighting to municipal owned
locations in mapping out a master wireless plan for wireless
telecommunications facilities to be sited in the
local government.
Provide specifications to and
coordination with wireless service providers (who will
construct the towers on public owned property and then
deed the facilities back to the local government), and continued
management by CityScape of the public owned sites to
maximize the revenue potential from same.
Facilitate the local government needs,
including future public facilities (public safety, municipal
dispatch, communications and information technology
infrastructures).
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Radio Frequency (RF) Engineering
Analysis/Site Plan & Application Review
CityScape provides to government
entities, the appropriate technical resources to review and
evaluate carrier requests and applications. This allows the
local government an independent and defensible review to evaluate
new tower requests on their merits, while maintaining local
control over the location of the proposed facility. We will
provide an analysis of the carrier's application and a
determination if it is technically justified.
Additionally we can evaluate alternative sites that may be
more appropriate to the community. CityScape provides you with the information to
act upon these applications and make such decisions.
CityScape legal staff will review the
application from a legal standpoint to ensure it meets the
requirements of the applicable ordinance in terms of zoning,
permissible structure height, safety and aesthetics, and
compliance with applicable federal guidelines including FAA
and FCC (i.e., RF emission standards, power levels, etc.).
The FCC suggests communities seek
independent third party reviews of wireless siting
applications. The local government can require (by ordinance) that
the wireless providers absorb the cost of this independent
evaluation as part of the planning and zoning application
process.
CityScape will conduct an evaluation
of a carriers request for new tower facilities to include, but
is not limited to:
Determine if the search ring is
adequate based on generally accepted cellular and PCS
engineering principles for the intended site.
Evaluate proposed height of
requested facility, based on capacity or coverage. Is the
height truly needed, based on hand-off, building penetration
and overlap? This evaluation is performed using a coverage
prediction software package used by many carriers.
Evaluate site options. Can this
site be accommodated at any existing structure or other
proposed sites? Is there an ability of this site or an
alternative site to be used for future co-location
opportunities?
Evaluate compliance with existing
ordinance (i.e., setbacks, tower separations, ordinance
definitions, etc.) and compliance with the
Telecommunications Act of 1996.
Evaluate aesthetic impact and
possible mitigation of, structures, shelters, containers and
landscaping to provide a more aesthetically pleasing
solution.
Evaluation of Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) Radio Frequency (RF)
exposure compliance.
Develop a database and framework
that can be used as a basis for a future telecommunications
plan.
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Government
Workshops
CityScape staff provides workshops for government, both
elected and non-elected officials. Workshop includes:
requirements of the federal government and your existing
ordinance; Radio Frequency Exposure guidelines and what you as
a local government can and cannot do; an engineering tutorial on
how locations are determined and service facilities are
designed. CityScape will tailor a workshop specifically for a
community, according to its goals, to aid the community in the
preparation of its telecommunications future.
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