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Meeting The Challenges of Zoning in the Information Age: Planning For Wireless Communications Facilities | |
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Meeting The Challenges of Zoning in the Information Age: Planning For Wireless Communications Facilities | |
The siting of wireless communications towers has become an important issue for local governments, and particularly for planning and zoning officials. With the signing of the Telecommunications Act by President Clinton on February 8, 1996, there has become a need for many local governments to examine their zoning ordinances and to ensure that they properly deal with siting of wireless communications facilities, and prevent possible discrimination against wireless service providers in land use and zoning decisions.
Because of the boom in cellular phones, pagers, and other mobile communication devices over the last several years, local governments are experiencing more applications for the siting of towers, transmitters, and other communications facilities. This has become a timely issue in zoning and planning practice, as the location of cellular towers has brought about public outcry over property values, aesthetics, and safety.
Due to the constantly evolving technology in communications, as well as the changing rules of the game (ie., the Telecommunications Act of 1996), many planners at the local level are scrambling to deal with the increases in applications for tower sitings. Planners are not well versed in the issue of communications facilities, because it is such a new issue. This project seeks to provide the background information necessary to effectively deal with wireless communications facilities. By describing the fundamentals of cellular communications, providing a framework for planners to amend their local ordinances, and looking at the future issue of tower abandonment (when technology evolves to the point that towers are no longer needed), planners will be able to confidently and effectively deal with wireless communications facilities.
Before discussing how to best regulate wireless communications facilities, it is helpful to clarify the term. Wireless facilities are needed to support the growth in the cellular phone and pager business. These facilities are the mechanisms that allow cellular phones to work. No clear consensus among localities as to what comprises a communication facility exists. For purposes of this project, the definition of wireless communication facility is as follows:
This definition covers not only the cellular towers that are the focus of attention today, but also to any other accessory buildings, structures, or antennae used in connection with the tower and cellular antennae. It also provides a means of regulating other towers, such as radio or television towers, although there is not much need in regulating these, as there is not the same likelihood of tower proliferation in these cases.
There are several reasons why cellular service providers require so many towers. First, is simply the way cellular phones work. After examining several companies and organizations' explanations, the simplest explanation comes from the Ameritech Web page on the Internet (How a Cellular Phone Works, 1996):
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A cellular system allows your telephone to move untethered across a town or across the United States. When a subscriber talks on a cellular phone, it transmits radio waves to the local tower, which connects with the local phone network that serves your home and office or another cellular phone. Cellular technology uses individual radio frequencies again and again, through a city or county, to serve a large number of people. Instead of having a few radio channels that everyone must share, like a CB radio, cellular channels are "reused" simultaneously in nearby areas without callers having to share the conversations. The process begins by carving the service area into small areas, called cells. A cell can range anywhere from one mile in diameter to 20 miles in diameter, depending on the terrain and capacity needs of the system. Each cell gets a radio transmitter/receiver which is connected through the cellular company's switching center to the local network. By lowering the transmitter's power, the range of the radio frequencies can be shaped to fit a single cell. Those same frequencies can be used in another cell not far away, with little chance of causing any interference. When the phone begins to leave a cell, the network senses that the signal is becoming weak and hands the call over to the next closest tower that has a stronger signal. This is known as a handoff. If the subscriber travels beyond the home cellular geographical area and makes a call on his or her cellular phone, another carrier will provide the service. |
Due to the way the cellular phone system works there is a need for cellular antenna in each cell. Where there is no existing building or structure tall enough to cover the cell, a tower is needed. Cellular phone and pager radio frequencies are transmitted at such a low power level that they differ from TV or radio transmissions. TV and radio are high power frequencies that are intended to be available over a large land area (hundreds or thousands of miles). Because of the low power output of cellular phones and pagers (this is so that the health risks to the phone or pager user are not hazardous to health), they are only able to transmit over a small land area (1-20 miles in diameter). This is the first reason why there are so many cellular towers.
The second reason for cellular tower application increase is the growing number of companies providing cellular service. This has occurred especially since the introduction of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which is explained in detail in the following section.
The new dilemma of facility siting for planning and zoning officials is accompanied by the Telecommunications Act of 1996. The objectives of the Act are to promote competition among communications companies, and to spur private investment and open access to information networks through the creation of a more flexible regulatory environment. There are widespread implications for local governments as "regulators, users and providers of telecommunications services" (Crowell, 1996). The main debates during the discussions in Congress involving lobbyists covered the management of public rights-of-way, local zoning authority over the siting of wireless communications facilities, cable franchising and rate regulation, taxing authority and access (Crowell, 1996). Of interest in this project is zoning authority.
The main concern for zoning officials during the Telecommunications Act debate was whether or not the then-existing FCC preemption of local zoning authority would be extended to include providers of cellular communications and Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) dishes that were found in many communities. The projections for cellular tower construction were, and still are, a concern. The number of cellular towers in the United States is expected to jump from 18,000 to more than 100,000 by the year 2000. Many citizens argue that the aesthetic impact of such towers, antennas, and dishes lowers residential property values. There are also some concerns about the electromagnetic emissions from towers and antennas, and whether or not they are safe for location near residential areas.
The Telecommunications Act does preserve local zoning authority, prohibit discrimination of different service providers, specifies the appeals procedure, and assists licensees in gaining access to preferred sites. Section 704 of the 1996 Act deals specifically with the local government oversight of siting of "personal wireless service" facilities. A summary of this section follows:
The Telecommunications Act of 1996;
Based on the 1996 Act, zoning officials can still deny requests for tower sitings, as long as the decision is not discriminatory for any of the reasons stated in Section 704. Applicants will still have to go through a traditional application/appeal process, comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), as well as all other federal and state environmental protection laws. See Appendix 1 and 2 for the full text of Section 704 and Section 253, which applies to entry of providers into the wireless market.
Local governments throughout the United States are dealing with a tremendous increase in the number of applications for the siting of cellular towers and other wireless communications facilities. Many communities do not have appropriate regulatory measures in place to properly deal with these facilities. Because it is such a recent phenomenon, few zoning ordinances have language that deals with these facilities. This, coupled with the 1996 Telecommunications Act, has created a situation where local governments are unable to effectively respond to the increase in tower siting applications.
The objective of this project is to assist local governments in establishing means of regulating wireless communications facilities. The project considers the principles of the cellular communications network (ie., how they work and what technology is involved), in an attempt to determine the limits of regulations on the functionality of the network. It will examine a variety of means of regulating these facilities and evaluate them based on comparative analyses and past experience in dealing with cellular tower regulation. Finally, it will address the issue of tower abandonment which will become a problem when the cellular technology evolves to the point that towers are no longer necessary for the network to function. From the analysis of the principles and future issues, model wireless facility regulations will be developed. These regulations will be flexible, capable of being adopted as a stand-alone ordinance or modified to be incorporated into a community's zoning ordinance.