The Federal Communications Act of 1934 as amended by the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (hereinafter the "Act") grants the Federal Communications Commission exclusive jurisdiction over:

The city's regulation of towers and telecommunication facilities within Millville will not have the effect of prohibiting any person from providing wireless telecommunication services in violation of the Act.

The general purpose of this article is to regulate the placement, construction, and modification of towers and telecommunication facilities in order to protect the health, safety and welfare of the public, while at the same time not unreasonably interfering with the development of competitive telecommunications market place as it relates to the City of Millville.

Specifically, the purposes of this article are:

Towers shall be a conditional use in all zoning districts within the City of Millville subject to Planning Board approval except the River Conservation District and any land subject to the River Management Plan as adopted by the City of Millville and National Park Service. Any application for a tower shall require conditional use approval and major site plan approval. To the greatest extent possible, both requirements shall be considered as part of a single application.

No person shall build, erect or construct a tower upon any parcel of land within any zoning district set forth above unless approval has been received by the appropriate Planning and/or Zoning Board within the City of Millville.

Towers are exempt from the maximum height restrictions of the districts where located. Towers shall be permitted to a height of 150 feet. Towers may be permitted in excess of 150 feet in accordance with § 30-287, Criteria for site plan development modifications.

No new tower shall be built, constructed or erected in the City unless the tower is capable of supporting another person's telecommunication facility comparable in weight, size and surface area to the telecommunication facility installed by the applicant on the tower within six months of completion of the towers construction.

All persons seeking to build a tower must submit an application regarding the same to the City Planning Board. An application to develop a tower shall include:

The City Planning Board may require an applicant to supplement any information that is considered inadequate or that the applicant has failed to supply. Any application may be denied on the basis that the applicant has not satisfactorily supplied the information in this article. The application shall be reviewed by the City Planning Board in a prompt manner, and all decisions shall be supported in writing setting forth the reasons for approval or denial.

Setback for each tower shall be 150% of the height of the tower from the property line on all sides. Example, a one-hundred-foot tower would have to be setback at least 150 feet from each property line on the property where said tower would be located.

Setback requirements for towers shall be measured from the base of the tower to the property line of the parcel of land on which it is located.

Setback requirements may be modified, as provided in § 30-287 of this article, when placement of a tower in a location which will reduce the visual impact can be accomplished.

Towers shall be separated from residentially zoned lands by a minimum of 200 feet or 200% of the height of the proposed tower, whichever is greater. To the extent that this section imposes a greater setback requirement than otherwise set forth in this article, this section shall be controlling.

Proposed towers must meet the following minimum separation requirements from existing towers or towers which have a development permit but are not yet constructed at the time a development permit is granted pursuant to this article:

That the height from grade of the telecommunications facilities shall not exceed the height from grade of the antenna support structure by more than 20 feet;

That any telecommunications facilities and their appurtenances, located above the primary roof of an antenna support structure, are set back one foot from the edge of the primary roof for each one foot in height above the primary roof of the telecommunications facilities. This setback requirement shall not apply to telecommunications facilities and their appurtenances, located above the primary roof of an antenna support structure, if such facilities are appropriately screened from view through the use of panels, walls, fences, or other screening techniques approved by the City of Millville. Setback requirements shall not apply to stealth antennas which are mounted to the exterior of antenna support structures below the primary roof, but which do not protrude more than 18 inches from the side of such an antenna support structure.

A tower existing prior to the effective date of this article, which was in compliance with the City's zoning regulations immediately prior to the effective date of this article, may continue in existence as a nonconforming structure. Such nonconforming structure may be modified or demolished and rebuilt without complying with any of the additional requirements of this article, except for § 30-276, Buffer requirements, § 30-285, Certifications and inspections, and § 30-286, Maintenance, provided that:

Except as provided in this section, a nonconforming structure or use may not be enlarged, increased in size or abandoned. For the purpose of this article a nonconforming structure which is discontinued for a period of more than 180 days, unless said discontinuance is for repairs, shall be considered abandoned. This article shall not be interpreted to legalize any structure or use existing at the time this article is adopted which structure or use is in violation of any of the ordinances of the City of Millville or any other federal, state or county statutes, regulations, ordinance or other laws prior to the enactment of this article.

All towers shall be certified by an engineer to be structurally sound and in conformance with the requirements of the Uniform Construction Code and BOCA National Code and all other construction standards set forth by the City ordinances and federal and state law. For new monopole towers, such certification shall be submitted with an application pursuant to § 30-273 of this article, and said application shall be resubmitted every five years thereafter. For existing monopole towers, certification shall be submitted within 60 days of the effective date of this article and then every five years thereafter. For new lattice or guyed towers, such certification shall be submitted with an application pursuant to § 30-273 of this article and shall be resubmitted every two years thereafter. For existing lattice of guyed towers, certification shall be submitted within 60 days of the effective date of this article and then every two years thereafter. The tower owner may be required by the City to submit more frequent certifications should there be reason to believe that the structural and electrical integrity of the tower is jeopardized.

The City or its agents shall have the authority to enter onto the property upon which a tower is located, between the inspections and certifications required above, to inspect the tower for purposes of determining whether it complies with all sections of this article and other City ordinances and any federal or state law or state, county or federal rule or regulation.

The City reserves the right to conduct such inspections at any time, upon reasonable notice to the tower owner. No notice is required for emergency inspections. All expenses related to such inspections by the City shall be borne by the tower owners.

Tower owners shall at all times employ ordinary and reasonable care and shall install and maintain in use nothing less than commonly accepted methods and devices for preventing failures and accidents which are likely to cause damage, injuries, or nuisances to the public.

Tower owners shall install and maintain towers, telecommunications facilities, wires, cables, fixtures, and other equipment in substantial compliance with the requirements of the National Electric Safety Code and all FCC, state and local regulations and in such manner that will not interfere with the use of the property.

All towers, telecommunications facilities and antenna support structures shall at all times be kept and maintained in good condition and working order, and shall be repaired so that the same shall not menace or endanger the life or property of any person.

All maintenance or construction of towers, telecommunications facilities or antenna support structures shall be performed by licensed maintenance and construction personnel.

All towers shall maintain compliance with current RF emission standards of the FCC and all other applicable FCC rules and regulations.

In the event that the use of the tower is discontinued by the tower owner, the tower owner shall provide written notice to the City of its intent to discontinue use and the date when said use shall be discontinued. The tower owner shall be specifically responsible. If FCC approval is required, the tower shall be dismantled within six months from the time it is no longer being used for telecommunication purposes and FCC approval is obtained, but in no event shall the tower exist in excess of 12 months from the time of discontinued use.

Notwithstanding the tower requirements provided in this article, a modification to the requirements may be approved by the Planning and/or Zoning Board as a conditional use in accordance with the following:

In addition to the requirements of Subsection A, in the following cases, the applicant must also demonstrate, by written evidence, the following:

If any tower shall cease to be used for a period of 365 consecutive days, the City Commission or City Planning Board, through the City Clerk, shall notify the owner, with a copy to the applicant, that such site has been abandoned. The owner shall have 30 days from the receipt of said notice to show, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the tower has been in use or under repair during the period. If the owner fails to show that the tower has been in use or under repair during said period, the City Commission shall issue a final determination of abandonment, the owner shall within 75 days apply to the FCC for the dismantling and within 180 days of such approval dismantle and remove the tower. If no such FCC approval is necessary, then said tower shall be dismantled and removed within 180 days of cease of use, In no event shall the tower not be dismantled within 365 days from cease of use.

As security for the obligations set forth in this section, the applicant, at the time of submitting the application, shall post a bond in an amount as determined by the City Engineer which said bond being of such amount to cover the anticipated cost and any removal of any such tower.