AgdaPkt 2018-12-17 Joint Special

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6.H. - Page 2 of 26 Finally, this report recommends adoption of a resolution to provide aesthetic standards for the installation of wireless facilities within the ROW. There is an urgent need for wireless regulations to take immediate effect for multiple reasons. There is a current lack of standards and regulations in the Municipal Code regarding wireless facilities in the ROW, and staff anticipates a substantial number of applications for such facilities. An influx of permit applications without appropriate standards and regulations in place will likely lead to the unregulated and disorderly deployment of wireless facilities in the ROW (such as through new utility poles). An urgency ordinance would also serve to protect and preserve community aesthetics, as well as the values of properties within the City, and to ensure that all wireless facilities are installed using the least intrusive means possible. Also, FCC regulations state that the City cannot adopt a moratorium ordinance in this instance to delay the effective date of the FCC ruling while the City reviews and revises its policies. For all of these reasons, adoption of wireless regulations on an urgency basis will protect the public health, safety, and welfare. Traditionally, wireless antennas and equipment primarily were installed on large towers on private or public land and on the rooftops of building. These installations are subject to land use review under the zoning code. In recent years, telecommunication companies increasingly have pursued the ability to install wireless facilities in the ROW on public utility poles, streetlights, and new utility poles. Historically, telecommunication installations in the ROW have typically been addressed through encroachment permits. However, the City's existing Municipal Code contains few standards or regulations designed to address the unique aesthetic, safety, operational, and locational issues in connection with the installation of wireless facilities in the ROW. Since 2009, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has progressively limited local government discretion over wireless facility permitting decisions. In 2015, the California legislature approved Assembly Bill (AB) 57, which placed timeframes, known as "shot clocks," for permit decisions, and established a "deemed approved" remedy if those deadlines are missed. In theory, if a city takes too long to issue a final approval or denial of all the necessary permit applications for a wireless facility, the applicant can simply declare that it is deemed approved per AB57. It is staff's understanding that carriers have not acted on this right yet, but they have successfully used it as leverage in negotiations with some California cities. In September 2018, the FCC issued a declaratory ruling that included shorter shot clocks and other requirements on local review of wireless facility installations in the ROW. Under this ruling, which is expected to go into effect on January 14, 2019, if a city does not render a decision on a small wireless facility application within a specified time period, 60 days for installations of small cell facilities on existing structures, and 90 days for new structures, the failure to meet the deadline will be presumed to violate federal law (both a failure to act within a reasonable period of time, and an effective prohibition of personal wireless services). The new declaratory ruling means that local governments can determine the time, place and manner of any work proposed by a wireless carrier or one of their vendors, but cannot outright prohibit it or otherwise unreasonably regulate it. The FCC also set a cost -based "safe harbor" of presumptively reasonable fee levels: a recurring lease rate of $270 per pole per year, and a non-recurring fee of $500 for the initial permit application for up to five sites ($100 for each additional site). City of Redwood City 1017 Middlefield Road, Redwood City, CA. 94063 Tel: 650-780-7000 www.redwoodcity.org 368