Draft Master Plan and City of Grand Junction Ordinance Presentation City of Grand Junction & Mesa County April 5, 2016 Susan Rabold, Project Manager CityScape Consultants, Inc.
What is a Wireless Master Plan The Goal of the Wireless Master Plan (WMP) is to facilitate the creation of an optimized wireless telecommunications environment that is efficient, capable, and meets the long- term forecasted user requirements of the businesses, residents and visitors in the City of Grand Junction and Mesa County. Expanding broadband capabilities and improving wireless and /or cell coverage to underserved areas are key objectives of the Economic Development Plan.
Summary
Project Study Areas Nine Study Areas Ø Area A • Lower Valley • Palisade • DeBeque Ø Area B • Gateway • Glade Park • Whitewater • Collbran Ø City of Grand Junction/ 201 Boundary Ø Area C • Corridors (4 Insets)
Summary of Draft Wireless Plan Ø Assessed all “ qualified sites ” within Mesa County including a 1 ½ mile perimeter beyond each study area. Ø “Qualified Sites” include: Personal Wireless Service Facilities (PWSF), microwave, broadcast towers, towers in remote locations and base stations. Ø 144 existing sites throughout Mesa County (multiple sites have more than 1 facility). Ø 151Towers; 17 Base Stations Ø 47 PWSF; 44 Eligible Facilities
Towers with PWSF Base Stations with PWSF
Local Concealed Towers Flag Pole Faux Louvers
Summary of Draft Wireless Plan Service Providers Include: AT&T Clearwire Spectrum Holding Sprint Access 700 LLC Commnet Wireless T-Mobile Atlantic Wireless Dish Union Cellular Leaco Rural Telephone Verizon Cleartalk Cooperative, Inc. Wireless Tower Owners Include: Crown Castle Independent Government American Tower LLC International Tower Owners Agencies AT&T SBA (City, County, Unknowns/ State, BLM, Broadcast The Leasing Unidentified DOT..) Companies Company
Summary of Draft Wireless Plan Inventory Analysis by Study Area: Existing Sites Projected Fill-In Estimated Build Out Study Area (In) (Out*) (10-15 Years) (Including public safety) City of Grand Junction/ 50 5 11-18 11-18 201 Boundary Lower Valley 10 11 7 4 Palisade 4 8 6 6 DeBeque 2 0 3 1-3 Glade Park 0 29 9 1-4 Gateway 0 3 3 1 Whitewater 5 1 4 2-4 Collbran 4 39 15 2-4 * Out means within a 1.5 mile distance from boundary
Summary of Draft Wireless Plan Inventory Analysis by Study Area: Corridor Projected Estimated Study Fill-In (10-15 Build Out Areas Years) Inset 1 6 6 Inset 2 15 4 Inset 3 7 4 Inset 4 16 9
Summary of Draft Wireless Plan Continued Ø Urban areas, Interstates and major highway corridors will continue to have the most facilities and the greatest area of network coverage. Ø Existing 2G network equipment (flip-type phones with only voice and text) will be phased out and 3G is limited in its capacity to provide current data demands and will also be phased out. Ø Current network deployments now and in the near future will consist primarily of 4G services. Ø 4G capacity sites will transition to quasi-5G sites over the next 3-10 years. Ø 4G LTE and AWS 5G networks will include wireless broadband.
Summary of Draft Wireless Plan Continued Ø Small cell capacity sites will be installed in the urbanized areas with 4G network deployments to address increasing data demands by the subscribers. Ø Public/private partnerships should maximize the use of future emergency service sites to improve private wireless services in rural and remote study areas. Ø Public broadband initiatives, fiber and backhaul access to towers may incentivize private service providers in rural and remote study areas. Ø Rural and remote communities should contact their service provider to report network concerns and request solutions for poor network coverage in their geographic area.
Federal Statutory, Decisional and Regulatory Law
47 USC §332(c)(7) (a/k/a Section 704 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996) Ø Preserves local zoning authority but requires local government to regulate in a manner that does not: unreasonably discriminate among providers of functionally § equivalent services; or prohibit or have the effect of prohibiting the provision of § personal wireless services. Ø Requires local government to make written decisions on siting applications that are based on substantial evidence and not on speculation or because of federally preempted reasons (such as concerns about Radio Frequency (“RF”).
Federal Legislation Section 704 Ø Must allow for the carriers to deploy their systems. Ø Must act expeditiously in these requests. Ø Must treat providers equally by providing equal access to “functionally equivalent services” (Cellular/PCS/Data). Ø Local government’s land development standards may not supersede or undermine areas of federal jurisdiction. Ø Enables Federal Government to use Federal property, rights-of-way and easements for leasing for new telecommunications infrastructure.
Ø Requirements for tower lighting and markings are exclusively regulated by the FAA/FCC. Ø Local government may be able to require dual lighting systems and can require support structures to be lighted as long as they comply with FAA codes.
Radio Frequency emissions are exclusively regulated by federal standards Not ionizing radiation Ø Non-ionizing radiation Ø World Health Organization Ø and American Cancer Society findings: § RF exposure is so low that human and animal health is not affected (http://eon3emfblog.net)
Definitions & Clarifications of Federal Law: Ø Transmission Equipment – Any infrastructure that supports equipment used for all Commission-licensed or authorized wireless transmissions. Further refinement: Ø Wireless Tower – a structure built for the sole or primary purpose of supporting any commission licensed or authorized antennas and their associated facilities. Ø Base Station – equipment and non-tower supporting structure at a “fixed” location that enable commission licensed or authorized wireless communications between user equipment and a communications network.
Existing wireless towers and base stations that have been Ø approved by a local government agency through a prescribed process for the tower or radio frequency is an “ eligible facility”. Collocations meeting the standards as defined in the Spectrum § Act are to be approved within a 60 day time frame, excluding any tolling periods for incomplete applications. If existing wireless tower or base station was built without local Ø review, or wasn’t required to have local review, or doesn‘t have existing equipment that required local review, no obligation for local authority to approve collocation under Spectrum Act and the following applies: The local government has 90 days (from the 2009 Shot Clock) to § decide to approve or deny requested modifications.
For the purposes of co-location of “substantial increase to the size of a tower” as: Addition of antenna on a tower that would increase its Ø height by the greater of 10% or 20 vertical feet; or Addition of antenna that requires installation of more than Ø standard number of equipment cabinets (not to exceed 4), or more than 1 new equipment shelter; or Addition of antenna that would increase the girth (width) Ø of the tower by more than 20 feet; or Addition of the antenna would involve excavating around Ø the tower site beyond the existing boundaries of the property associated with the facility.
The City of Grand Junction is proposing changes to regulations relating to Telecommunications Facilities Ø Compliance with new Federal regulations. Ø Proactive approach to accommodate growing need and demand of wireless services including public safety infrastructure improvements. Ø Consistent with Draft Wireless Master Plan Study. Ø Consideration of public commentary to date . Ø Following zoning slides are specific ONLY to the City’s draft ordinance.
Ø Evidence of need Ø Location preferences Ø Infrastructure type Ø Permitted by zoning districts Ø Landscaping Ø Photo simulations Ø Height Ø Setbacks Ø Fencing Ø Signage Ø Noise from generators Ø Lighting types in accordance with FAA Ø Lighting of equipment compound Ø Abandonment/discontinued use
Draft Siting Preferences are, in order: Infrastructure Type (i) Co-located or combined PWSF (ii) Dual Purpose Facility (iii) Replacement of existing Telecommunications Facility (iv) Concealed antenna(s) on a base station (v) Concealed small cell site (vi) Non-concealed small cell site Co-location Dual Purpose Concealed Concealed Non-concealed base station small cell/DAS small cell/DAS
Draft Siting Preferences are, in order continued: Infrastructure Type (vii) Distributed Antenna System (A) Attached a. Concealed on City-owned property, right-of-way or public easement b. Concealed on other public property c. Concealed on non-public property d. Non-concealed on City-owned property, right-of-way or public easement e. Non-concealed on other public property f. Non-concealed on non-public property A Distributed Antenna System (DAS) is very similar to small cell sites. One difference is DAS networks can be shared between service providers and small cells are for a single service provider.
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