Cranston City Zoning Code
Chapter
17.76 TELECOMMUNICATIONS FACILITIES
§ 17.76.010 Telecommunications facilities.
A.
Applicability.
No wireless communications equipment shall be erected or installed
except in compliance with the provisions of this subsection. The provisions
of this subsection apply to all wireless communications equipment,
whether such equipment is used as a main use or as an accessory use.
Where conflicts exist between this subsection and the remainder of
this code, the provisions of this subsection shall govern.
B.
Application
Conference. There shall be a biannual application conference at which
cellular communication providers will meet with the planning director
or his or her designee to discuss future potential tower site locations.
These application conferences will also serve as an opportunity for
the city to minimize the proliferation of cellular communication towers
throughout the city by allowing telecommunication providers to set
up co-location agreements between themselves and other telecommunication
service providers. Unless otherwise noted and properly advertised,
this biannual application conference shall take place in the months
of January and July.
C.
Development
Standards to Telecommunications Towers.
1.
Telecommunications
towers shall be prohibited in any historic district except by a use
variance from the zoning board of review as well as a certificate
of appropriateness from the historic district commission.
3.
The
following standards shall apply to all applications:
a.
A reasonable effort shall be made to utilize existing structures
for telecommunications antennae. Should an existing structure not
be utilized, evidence as to why not shall be submitted.
b.
City owned sites which are located in the prospective area and which
could potentially accommodate the proposed antennae and communication
towers shall be identified.
c.
Communication towers shall be set back from all property lines a
minimum of one foot for each one foot of tower height. When the property
abuts a residential district or an historic district, the setback
distance shall be one and one-half feet for each one foot of tower
height. All guy wires and guyed towers shall be clearly marked so
as to be visible at all times and all guy wires shall be set back
from all property boundaries the minimum of the zoning district in
which they are located.
d.
All communication tower supports and peripheral anchors shall be
located entirely within the boundaries of the development site and
shall be set back from all property boundaries the minimum of the
zoning district in which the communication tower is located, but no
less than twenty-five (25) feet. When located in or abutting a residential
district or historic overlay district, the minimum distance shall
be thirty-five (35) feet. Supports and/or peripheral anchors shall
not encroach upon the minimum landscaped screening requirement. All
supports and anchors shall have at a minimum a ten (10) foot horizontal
setback from any overhead utility line.
e.
Communication equipment buildings and structures shall be considered
accessory uses and comply with the following setbacks:
i.
One hundred (100) square feet or less shall be set back from all
property boundaries a minimum of fifteen (15) feet, unless located
in or abutting a residential district or historic overlay district
which shall require a minimum of twenty-five (25) feet.
ii.
Greater than one hundred (100) square feet shall be set back from
all property boundaries a minimum of twenty-five (25) feet unless
located within or abutting a residential district or historic overlay
district which shall require a minimum of thirty-five (35) feet.
f.
Communication towers shall be constructed and situated in such a
manner as to fit in with the topography and features of the surrounding
environment. Tower bases shall be completely screened from the adjacent
properties and streets by plantings and appropriately camouflaged
if required. Plantings shall be of such a height and density as to
ensure complete screening. Screening shall consist of plant and/or
tree material accepted by the city's subdivision and land development
regulations or as accepted by the director of planning. Screening
shall not be less than five feet in width unless located in or abutting
a residential district or historic overlay district which will require
that it not be less than ten (10) feet in width. Screening may be
waived by the zoning board on those sides or sections which are adjacent
to undevelopable lands or lands not in public view. Existing vegetation
may be used as a substitute for or supplement towards meeting the
landscaped screening requirement. The owner of the property shall
be responsible for all maintenance and shall replace any dead plantings
within thirty (30) days.
g.
Communication towers shall be enclosed by a fence no less than eight
feet in height or more than ten (10) feet in height from the finished
grade. Access shall be through a locked gate. Communication towers
in or abutting a residential district or historic overlay district
shall have fencing comprised of wood or stone.
h.
Finished Color. Communication towers not requiring FAA painting/marking
shall have either a galvanized finish or painted a non-contrasting
blue or gray finish or other color matching the natural surroundings.
i.
Communication towers shall not be artificially lighted except as
required for public safety purposes, by the Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA) or by the city.
j.
No signs shall be allowed on any communication tower except as required
for public safety purposes by the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) or by the city.
k.
Abandonment. In the event the use of any communication tower has
been discontinued for a period of one hundred eighty (180) consecutive
days, the tower shall be deemed to be abandoned. Determination of
the date of abandonment shall be made by the zoning official who shall
have the right to request documentation and/or affidavits from the
communication tower owner/operator regarding the issue of tower usage.
Upon such abandonment, the owner/operator of the tower shall have
an additional one hundred eighty (180) days within which to:
i.
Reactivate the use of the tower or transfer the tower to another
owner/operator who makes actual use of the tower; or
ii.
Dismantle and remove the tower.
At the earlier of one hundred eighty-one (181) days from the
date of abandonment without reactivation or upon completion of dismantling
and removal, any special exception and/or variance approval for the
tower shall automatically expire.
l.
Communication antennas not attached to a communication tower shall
be permitted as an accessory use to any commercial, industrial, office,
institutional or public utility structure, provided that:
i.
The antennas are not higher than twenty-five (25) feet above the
highest point of the structure;
ii.
The antennas comply with applicable FCC and FAA regulations; and
iii.
The antennas comply with all applicable zoning requirements
and building codes, with the exception of the restriction pertaining
to height limitations.
m.
Co-Location of Communication Antennas. To minimize adverse visual
impacts associated with the proliferation and clustering of communication
towers, co-location of communication antennas by more than one carrier
on existing or new communication towers shall take precedent over
the construction of new single-use communication towers as follows:
i.
Proposed communication antennas may and are encouraged to, co-locate
onto existing communication towers. Provided such co-location is accomplished
in a manner consistent with this subsection, then such colocations
are permitted by right and new additional special exception approval
shall not be required.
ii.
Type of Construction. A communication tower which is modified or
reconstructed to accommodate the co-location of an additional communication
antenna shall be of the same tower type as the existing communication
tower.
iii.
Height.
(A)
An existing communication tower may be modified or rebuilt to
a taller height, not to exceed twenty-five (25) feet over the towers
existing height, to accommodate the co-location of additional communication
antennas.
(B)
The height change referred to in subsection (iii)(A) above may
only occur one time per communication tower.
(C)
The additional height referred to subsection (iii)(A) shall
not require an additional distance separation as set forth in subsection
(C)(3)(n). The communication tower's premodification height shall
be used to calculate such distance separation.
iv.
On-Site Location.
(A)
A communication tower which is being rebuilt to accommodate
the co-location of an additional communication antenna may be moved
on-site within fifty (50) feet of its existing location.
(B)
After the communication tower is rebuilt to accommodate co-location,
only one tower may remain on the site.
(C)
A relocated on-site communication tower shall continue to be
measured from the original tower location for the purposes of calculating
separation distances between communication towers pursuant to subsection
(C)(3)(n). The relocation of a tower hereunder shall in no way be
deemed to cause a violation of subsection (C)(3)(n).
(D)
The on-site relocation of a communication tower which comes
within the separation distances to residential units or residentially
zoned lands as established in subsection (C)(3)(n) shall only be permitted
when notarized written consent is obtained from those affected residential
property owners.
n.
Communication towers shall comply with the following standards for
the minimum separation distance from existing communication towers
and/or communication towers that have received a valid special use
permit, use permit or building permit.
Minimum Separation Between Towers (By Tower Type) | ||
|---|---|---|
Proposed Tower Types | Self-Supporting or Guyed Less than 75' in Height | Self-Supporting or Guyed 75' in Height or Greater |
Self-Supporting | 1 Mile | 2.5 Miles |
Guyed | 1 Mile | 2.5 Miles |
i.
Separation distances shall be calculated and applied irrespective
of jurisdictional boundaries.
ii.
Separation distances shall be measured from the Global Positioning
System location of the existing, approved or proposed communication
tower. A certified survey showing the GPS location of the proposed
communication tower shall be submitted with any application for a
special use permit, use permit or building permit to demonstrate conformance
with separation requirements.
iii.
Towers which exist prior to the passage of this chapter are
exempt from the separation distances aforementioned.
o.
Allowed telecommunications towers shall specifically exclude monopole
towers and shall specifically include lattice type and guyed wire
towers.
p.
Telecommunications facilities are allowed by right on municipally
owned sites greater than ten (10) acres in size and which abut an
interstate highway. Said allowance is subject to city planning commission
review and approval.
(Prior code § 30-18(s))