Airway Heights City Zoning Code

The City of Airway Heights intends these regulations to provide for a competitive wireless telecommunications industry while protecting the health, safety, and general welfare of the citizens by controlling the placement, construction, and modification of wireless telecommunications towers and facilities.

This chapter will not have the effect of prohibiting any person from providing wireless telecommunications services in violation of the Communications Act of 1934 as amended by the Telecommunications Act of 1996, and any further amendments of the Communications Act of 1934 or exceptions to local regulations as defined by the Federal Communications Commission.

Specifically, this chapter is intended to:

Reserved.

Large satellite dish antenna(s) are subject to administrative review, may only be placed in the rear yard, and cannot be placed within the required setback area. To conduct the administrative review, all or some of the complete application checklist (AHMC § 17.28.080) items may be required by the City Planner at his/her discretion. If a reception window obstruction prevents adequate signal reception, then the large satellite dish antennas may be placed in an area other than the rear yard. The applicant must provide sufficient evidence to the Planning Department. The evidence shall be written and substantially from the service provider or a certified radio frequency engineer. All large satellite dish antennas shall be subject to inspection by the City.

Amateur radio towers and transmission facilities are subject to administrative review, may only be placed in the rear yard, and cannot be placed within the required setback area. To conduct the administrative review, all or some of the complete application checklist (AHMC § 17.28.080) items may be required by the City Planner at his/her discretion. Amateur radio towers and transmission facilities shall be subject to review and inspection by the City, FCC, FAA and DOD to ensure structural integrity and safety.

Wireless telecommunications facilities, broadcast facilities, relay facilities, and related support towers are prohibited in the following areas:

Wireless telecommunications facilities, broadcast facilities, relay towers and related support towers shall be permitted in the following zones using the conditional use permit process:

In order to facilitate the expedient processing of applications, a complete application for wireless telecommunications facilities shall consist of, but may not be limited to, the following requirements. The City Planner has the discretionary authority to waive application requirements if requirements are deemed inapplicable for the specific facility.

Wireless telecommunications, broadcast, and relay providers shall use the following criteria in the order provided below for their site selection process. If wishing to move to the next lowest criterion, the applicant shall provide, at the time of application, current and technically sound evidence to demonstrate a network need to move to the next lowest criterion. Suitable evidence would need to be provided to move from criterion A to criterion B, from B to C, and from C to D. The Planning Commission will evaluate evidence during the CUP process. Co-location should be pursued whenever possible; facility providers are encouraged to allow for further facility location on new support towers. The provider shall seek locations in the following order:

To encourage co-location, the City has allowed for bonus height increases as described below. Providers must allow for support tower space as well as land area for related ground equipment. Wireless telecommunications support towers shall have the following height limitations:

Support towers are not to exceed 100 feet in any zone, except where and when it can be demonstrated through current and technically sound evidence that the maximum tower height is too short for reasonable network and area coverage. The Planning Commission may grant administrative relief for an increase of up to 20 percent of the maximum tower height, as depicted in 17.28 Table 1, Tower Co-Location Height Table. The Planning Commission may impose conditions consistent with this chapter.

The City wishes to maintain visual harmony between land uses and public space in relation to wireless facilities and support towers. Screening and landscaping provide ideal methods to mitigate the aesthetic impacts of wireless facilities and support towers on surrounding land uses and public space.

The City shall use the following decision criteria in addition to the decision criteria for conditional use permits. The additional criteria are needed due to the specific requirements of this chapter. The following criteria will not apply to large satellite dish antennas or amateur radio facilities as defined in the Airway Heights Municipal Code: