New Lisbon City Zoning Code

Registration and application requirements. All personal wireless services carriers and providers that offer or provide any telecommunications services for a fee directly to the public, either within the City or outside the corporate limits from telecommunications facilities within the City, and all telecommunications tower owners shall register and provide to the City, pursuant to this article, on forms to be provided by the City, and shall provide with each conditional use application the following information:

Purpose of registration. The purpose of registration under this article is to:

Enforcement. It shall be unlawful for any personal wireless services carrier or provider who offers or provides services within the City, or any telecommunications tower owner who owns or operates telecommunications facilities within the City, to fail to register and provide the information required in Subsection A above within 30 days of such a request by the City.

Conditional use application requirements.

Minor alterations. Antennas affixed to an existing telecommunications tower or structure, together with the related support facilities and equipment buildings, or the replacement of a previously approved telecommunications tower and related antennas, support facilities and equipment buildings, may be authorized by issuance of a permit as a minor alteration to an existing conditional use or an existing permitted use when approved by the Zoning Administrator or City Administrator, which are compatible with the concept approved by the City Plan Commission and/or the standards in § 520-42 of this chapter. If said minor alteration is not approved, the applicant shall apply to the Plan Commission for said approval in accordance with the conditional use standards contained herein.[1]

Inventory and tracking system. The Zoning Administrator shall compile a list of existing telecommunications facilities within the City's jurisdiction based upon information provided by personal wireless services providers and telecommunications tower owners. The Zoning Administrator shall maintain and update said list on a regular basis. The list shall also include the location of public facilities that may be available for co-location.

Telecommunications towers shall be constructed out of metal or other nonflammable material, unless specifically permitted by the City to be otherwise.

Telecommunications support facilities (i.e., equipment rooms, utilities and equipment enclosures) shall be constructed out of nonreflective materials (visible exterior surfaces only) to the extent possible and, where possible, shall be sited below the ridgeline or designed to minimize their impact.

Telecommunications equipment buildings, shelters and cabinets shall be treated to look like a building or facility typically found in the area.

The City shall have the authority to require reasonable special design (materials, architectural features and color) of the telecommunications facilities where findings of particular sensitivity are made (e.g., proximity to historic or aesthetically significant structures, views and/or community features).

Telecommunications facilities shall ensure that sufficient anti-climbing measures have been incorporated into the facility, as needed, to reduce potential trespass and injury.

Equipment buildings shall be located, designed and screened to reduce visual impacts to the extent feasible considering the technological requirements of the proposed personal wireless services and the need to be compatible with neighboring residences and the character of the community.

The antenna shall be designed to blend with its supporting structure. The color selected shall be one that in the opinion of the Plan Commission will minimize the visibility of the antenna to the greatest extent feasible.

No telecommunications tower shall be installed closer than 1/4 mile to another telecommunications tower, measured from the base of the telecommunications tower to the base of the proposed tower, unless it is a tower situated on a multi-tower zoning lot or credible evidence to a reasonable degree of certainty acceptable to the Plan Commission is submitted showing a clear need for said new tower and the infeasibleness of co-locating it on an existing site. For the purposes of this requirement, exempt telecommunications facilities unavailable for co-location shall not be included in the one-fourth-mile computation.

No telecommunications tower shall be installed on a zoning lot that is not already developed with a telecommunications tower unless the applicant demonstrates that no tower in the area that the applicant's equipment must be located is of sufficient height to meet the applicant's requirements and the deficiency in height cannot be remedied at a reasonable cost; or the existing tower is not of sufficient strength to support the applicant's equipment and the deficiency in structural strength cannot be remedied at a reasonable cost; or the applicant's equipment would cause electromagnetic interference with equipment on the existing telecommunications tower within the area in which the applicant's equipment must be located, or the equipment on the existing telecommunications tower(s) would cause interference with the applicant's equipment, and the interference, from whatever source, cannot be eliminated at a reasonable cost; or the fees, costs or contractual provisions required by the owner in order to co-locate on an existing communication tower are unreasonable relative to industry norms; or the applicant demonstrates that there are other factors that render existing communication towers unsuitable or unavailable and establishes that the public interest is best served by the placement or construction of a new telecommunications tower.[1]

Telecommunications towers, guy wires, appurtenant equipment and buildings shall comply with the yard and setback requirements of the zoning district in which they are located, and, in addition thereto, all telecommunications towers shall be set back at least 100 feet from any property devoted to residential use or 200 feet from any residential building, whichever is less.

Unless the applicant is submitting an application to locate or co-locate upon an existing tower or structure, an analysis shall be prepared by or on behalf of the applicant, subject to the approval of the Plan Commission, which identifies all reasonable, technically feasible, alternative locations and/or facilities which would be usable for the proposed personal wireless services. The intention of the alternatives analysis is to present alternative strategies which would minimize the number, size and adverse environmental impacts, including aesthetics, of facilities necessary to provide the needed services to the City and surrounding rural and urban areas. The analysis shall address the potential for co-location at an existing or a new site and the potential to locate facilities as close as possible to the intended service area. It shall also explain the rationale for selection of the proposed site in view of the relative merits of any of the feasible alternatives. Approval of the project is subject to the Plan Commission making a finding that the proposed site results in fewer or less severe environmental impacts, including aesthetics, than any feasible alternative site. The City may require independent verification by a qualified engineer of this analysis at the applicant's expense. Facilities which are not proposed to be co-located with another telecommunications facility shall provide a written explanation why the subject facility is not a candidate for co-location.

All new telecommunications towers shall be structurally and electrically designed to accommodate at least three separate antenna arrays, unless credible evidence is presented that said construction is economically and technologically unfeasible or the Plan Commission determines that, for reasons of aesthetics or to comply with the standards of § 520-42, a telecommunications tower of such height to accommodate three antenna arrays is unwarranted. Multi-user telecommunications towers shall be designed to allow for future rearrangement of antennas and to accept antennas mounted at varying heights. Parking areas, access roads, and utility easements shall be shared by site users, at fair market rates as determined by customary industry standards, when in the determination of the Plan Commission this will minimize overall visual impact to the community.

Amateur radio towers installed, erected, maintained and/or operated in any residential zoning district by a federally licensed amateur radio operator complying with the provisions contained in this chapter, so long as all the following conditions are met:

Publicly owned and operated telecommunications facilities required in the public interest to provide for and maintain a radio frequency telecommunications system, including digital, analog, wireless or electromagnetic waves, for police, fire and other municipal services.