Questions & Answers on
Planning for Personal Wireless Service Facilities
by Ted Kreines, AICP
President
Kreines & Kreines, Inc.
58 Paseo Mirasol
Tiburon, CA 94920
(415) 435-9214
Talk of the Towns sat down with Ted Kreines, an expert in wireless planning, and asked him to ask the types of questions towns may have about planning for personal wireless service facilities as well as to answer them.
Question: You don’t like to use the word "towers." Why is that?
Answer: Most people don’t realize that towers are an antiquated and unnecessary means of deploying personal wireless service facilities. Personal wireless service facilities can be deployed on much shorter mounts using dual-polarized antennas. However, the industry thinks that deploying facilities on shorter mounts is more expensive for the wireless industry.
Q: Industry representatives often tell towns that they only want one tower and that will take care of the entire town. Is this correct?
A: The industry is partially correct. For the time being, only a small number of customers throughout the entire town need the signal; therefore, the single set of antennas is enough to get "coverage" to the entire town. However, as more customers demand more capacity, there will be a second phase, called the capacity phase and the coverage towers will be too high. The last phase will be the residential phase, when everyone demands service and personal wireless service facilities may be as ubiquitous as telephone or utility poles and just about as tall as street lights.
Q: How many carriers are there going to be?
A: I estimate that there will be approximately nine carriers, depending upon the location and size of the town, within the next five years. These are only the carriers that use "cell concept," where calls are handed off from cell to cell as the mobile user moves through the area. There will be other wireless carriers as well, but they will not use a cell concept.
Q: Industry representatives often tell towns that local zoning is pre-empted and there is nothing a town can say or do to prevent towers.
A: The federal government has not pre-empted local government’s ability to regulate wireless. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 preserves local zoning authority over decisions regarding the placement, construction, and modification of personal wireless service facilities.
A Federal Judge in a lawsuit in New York over the denial of a personal wireless service facility application in Sprint Spectrum v. Town of Ontario Planning Board recently stated that "Localities are still left to determine the location and number of towers needed to provide adequate service to their residents."
Q: I thought that zoning was limited to, for example, only allowing personal wireless service facilities in industrial zones and not allowing them in residential zones. Is there another way to use zoning to regulate personal wireless service facilities?
A: Yes. The best zoning rewards the wireless carrier for locating facilities where the town wants the facilities to go and for the carrier designing facilities the way the town wants the facilities to look. Good zoning also discourages wireless carriers from locating facilities where the town does not want them and from designing facilities that will be intrusive or obtrusive.
Good zoning should be flexible, and flexibility means creating standards by which facilities can be evaluated and approved. A zoning ordinance should cover all the possibilities and give the wireless carriers choices such as placing personal wireless service facilities in or on existing structures, placing them lower than trees, on utility poles, etc.
Q: You seem to think there is much towns can do to regulate personal wireless service facilities, but many towns need to learn more. How can they do that?
A: A good first step is to hold a workshop to educate town officials, town staff and citizens. The workshop should be conducted by someone who knows about wireless planning from the municipal or local government perspective, who can explain facts about personal wireless services and discuss options that towns have for planning for personal wireless service facilities to meet community needs.
Q: Industry representatives say they don’t know how many facilities they will need or where they will go. How can a town plan for this uncertainty?
A: One way to do it is with a Wireless Master Plan. In the plan, the town can look at its entire area, estimate how many facilities it thinks will be needed and show areas (not specific sites) where personal wireless service facilities can go. When the wireless carrier comes to the town, the town will have some areas designated where personal wireless service facilities can be located. Planners should think of planning for personal wireless service facilities the same way they do for other development. When a fast food restaurant comes to town, the planner doesn’t point to a single dot on the map, but rather to red areas. That gives the restaurant a choice of where to locate. When a wireless carrier comes to town, the town should have some areas designated where personal wireless service facilities can go.
Q: Industry representatives often tell towns that they are pre-empted from talking about health and safety issues. Is this correct?
A: The Telecommunications Act only prohibits local government from denying an application for a personal wireless service facility based on radio frequency radiation (RFR), if the facility complies with the RFR regulations published by the Federal Communications Commission. There is nothing in the law that prohibits local governments from discussing RFR or safety issues such as the possibility that towers can collapse, security barriers around towers, etc.
Q: Industry representatives often claim that a town cannot deny an application for a personal wireless service facility. Is it possible to deny an application?
A: The Telecommunications Act permits denials of personal wireless service facilities by towns; however, the Act requires that denials be based on substantial evidence in a written record.
Q: When town planners question industry representatives, they often receive technical answers about the requirements of radio frequency (RF) engineering. Should the towns concern themselves with this technical material?
A: The Telecommunications Act preserved local zoning authority over personal wireless service facilities. Towns should plan for these facilities the way they do for other land uses and infrastructure in the town and advise the wireless carriers to do their engineering to meet the Town’s plans. This means that RF engineering follows town policy, not vice versa.
Q: How can a town pay for planning for personal wireless service facilities?
A: A local government can recover all of the money it spends on planning for and permitting personal wireless service facilities by charging application fees to the wireless carriers. This includes the cost of a plan for all carriers.
Q: Are there any sources of revenue for a town from the deployment of personal wireless service facilities?
A: A town can lease space on town-owned land or structures to wireless carriers to bring in much needed revenue. One area that is usually owned by the town is the right-of-way. The right-of-way is ubiquitous and already has many vertical structures (light standards and utility poles) where wireless carriers can locate their facilities without building yet another "tower."
In closing, I should warn towns that there will be industry resistance to using the right-of-way. Most carriers want to avoid the right-of-way as a deployment area. They realize that going to the right-of-way gives the town a measure of control. On the other hand, the right-of-way is the logical place to go and it’s where all this wireless activity is going to end up. I say "Plan on it."
Note: Ted Kreines is President of Kreines & Kreines, Inc. Kreines & Kreines, Inc. consults to towns on planning for wireless telecommunications facilities. Kreines & Kreines, Inc. does not work for the wireless industry. Kreines & Kreines, Inc. also publishes PlanWireless, a newsletter about planning for wireless facilities. Subscriptions to PlanWireless are free for towns. Please call (415) 435-9214 or e-mail wireless.update@worldnet.att.net if you would like to order a free subscription for your town.