Barrington City Zoning Code
ARTICLE XI
Communication Towers
§ 360-63 Personal wireless service facilities.
"Personal wireless service facilities" means those antennas and/or towers providing commercial mobile communication services, unlicensed wireless communication services, and common carrier wireless exchange access communication services, as prescribed in the Federal Telecommunications Act of 1996.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: See 47 U.S.C. § 251 et seq.
§ 360-64 Purpose.
[Amended 10-14-2008 by Ord. No. 917; at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. II)]
The purpose of this article is to:
A.
To provide for the use of cellular communications antennas and towers (hereinafter referred to as "towers") while regulating their location and number in the Borough.
B.
To minimize the adverse visual impacts of towers and support facilities through proper design, siting, height and landscaping/screening.
C.
To avoid potential damage to adjacent residential and commercial properties and associated traffic from tower failure and falling ice, through proper siting, engineering design and continued maintenance.
D.
To discourage the number and scale of existing structures or new towers through joint use and/or co-location. Any tower not located in the M-2 Manufacturing District shall be limited to the co-location of three commercial antennas. Co-located commercial-type antennas are limited to such use as cell phones, pagers, microwave relays, and two-way radios.
§ 360-65 Regulation of telecommunications antennas or towers.
Telecommunications antennas and towers shall be regulated in the Borough of Barrington in accordance with this chapter. Tower facilities may include storage cabinets for transmitting equipment, but may not include offices, long-term vehicle storage, other outdoor storage, or broadcast studios, except for emergency purposes as permitted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), or other uses that are not necessary to send or receive transmissions.
§ 360-66 Uses.
[Amended 4-8-2008 by Ord. No. 907; at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. II)]
Towers may be permitted as a conditional principal use on lots in the Planned Business Park Zone of the Borough of Barrington in the M-2 Manufacturing District.
§ 360-67 Conditional use; requirements.
Applicants for development of a tower or tower facility must meet the following conditional use requirements:
A.
Lot size. Towers may be permitted on lots with a minimum of 10,000 square feet. Towers are to be constructed at the farthest corner of the Planned Business Park Zone of the Borough of Barrington in the M-2 Manufacturing District.
[Amended 10-14-2008 by Ord. No. 917]
B.
Height. The applicant shall demonstrate that the proposed antenna is the minimum height to function satisfactorily or as regulated by the FCC. No antennas taller than this minimum height shall be approved.
C.
Setback. Towers shall be set back on all sides of the property the same distance as the proposed height. No other structures or other personal wireless service facilities may be constructed within the fall zone of any tower. No tower shall be erected within 500 feet of any single-family residential use or school facilities' property lines.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. II)]
D.
Co-location.
[Amended 10-14-2008 by Ord. No. 917]
(1)
In order to prevent their proliferation in the Borough, each tower shall be designed to allow co-location or shared use of additional antennas for the proposed providers in the Borough of Barrington and local police, fire, ambulance, emergency preparedness, and public education facilities. Any tower not located in the M-2 Manufacturing District shall be limited to the co-location of three commercial antennas. Co-located commercial-type antennas are limited to such use as cell phones, pagers, microwave relays, and two-way radios. Applicants must send a certified mail announcement to all tower owners and users and to all owners of tall buildings and structures, i.e., greater than 35 feet, within the Borough and within a 1/4-mile radius of the proposed site stating their needs and asking for permission to install or share the site of their proposed antennas.
(2)
Applicants shall provide testimony indicating that no other tower, tall building, structure, etc., within this area is available for co-location. Applicants cannot be denied or deny space on an existing tower, tall building, or structure within the Borough for economic reasons. Co-location may, however, be denied for structural, mechanical, or regulatory factors. The Board may deny an application to erect or to mount the antenna on an existing tower, building or structure. Copies of proposed access, co-location, or other related leases and agreements shall be provided to the Board Solicitor for his or her review.
E.
Construction. Towers shall be either of a freestanding (monopole) or lattice (self-supporting) design with provision made for clipping or reducing the size of the fall zone to 66% of the total height. Towers anchored with guy wires or like wires shall not be permitted. All towers and support structures shall be fitted with anticlimbing devices, as approved by the manufacturers.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. II)]
F.
Access. An access road shall be constructed to allow access roads to the tower facility. All access roads shall be fully and solely maintained by the applicant.
G.
Design compatibility. The entire facility must be architecturally compatible with its surroundings. The use of residential compatible materials such as brick and stucco shall be required for associated support buildings, which shall be designed to architecturally match the predominant character of adjacent residential neighborhoods. In no case shall metal exteriors be permitted for accessory buildings.
H.
Performance standards. Equipment at tower properties shall be automated in order to minimize the need for maintenance and servicing. Applicants shall provide testimony indicating the estimated frequency of maintenance service, personnel needs, equipment needs, and any anticipated traffic, noise, radiation, radio frequency interference, or public safety impacts, such as falling ice, debris, or structural collapse, of the proposed use. Uses shall provide off-street parking and be accessible by means of a public street or private easement in a form acceptable to the Board Solicitor.
I.
Screening. The base of towers or other personal wireless service facilities must be screened on all sides from public view by the use of opaque fencing to a height of six feet or evergreen shrubbery, or both, wherein such screening shall be approved by the Board, considering aesthetic, type, location, and other such factors. The screen must be so as to prevent the tower or facility from being seen from a public right-of-way and from adjacent residential and commercial properties at ground level.
J.
Signage. No signs and/or billboards of any kind shall be erected or placed on a tower, except for "warning" or "no trespassing" signs which may be placed at the base of the structure. No part of the tower, antennas, fixtures, or instrument attached to the tower may have any written copy, design, logo, or other graphic image that could be construed as an advertisement.
K.
Lighting. No tower may be artificially lighted or illuminated, except when required by the FAA.
L.
Structural integrity. The governing body may require periodic inspections of towers to ensure their structural integrity, i.e., at least once every 10 years for monopole towers and once every five years for self-supporting towers. Inspections shall be conducted by an engineer licensed by the State of New Jersey. The results of such inspections shall be provided to the Borough Engineer who shall advise the governing body as to any required repairs and/or reconstruction or the removal of a tower.
M.
Abandonment. In the event that a tower is to be left unused for a period of more than six months, the tower shall be determined to be abandoned and a potential threat to public safety. Upon due notice to the owner of the tower, the Borough may place a lien on the property for required engineering and demolition costs or may acquire the property through eminent domain.
§ 360-68 Site plan.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. II)]
The applicant must submit a site plan to the Planning Board of the Borough of Barrington and receive its approval for all new tower facilities. The Board may waive formal site plan submission for antennas proposed to be mounted on an existing tower, tall building, or structure. Such site plan shall be submitted in six copies, be prepared, signed, and sealed by a professional engineer licensed in the State of New Jersey, and shall include an identification of the location and size of the proposed property, as well as engineering drawings indicating the proposed use and its method of support and foundations, the method of construction, materials to be used, height of all structures, required setbacks and fall zone of the proposed tower, co-location documentation, maintenance in formation, and required screening. The applicant is required to obtain a building permit prior to the installation and erection of the approved uses; however, no building permit may be used in the absence of site plan approval by the Planning Board. An application for development to co-locate wireless communications equipment on a wireless communications support structure or in an existing equipment compound shall not be subject to site plan review provided the application meets the requirements of N.J.S.A. 40:55D-46.2.