HomeMy WebLinkAboutCLEAN wireless paragraphs.doc-tju for fin com report This article deletes the current wireless services zoning bylaw and replaces it with a bylaw that ism--- Formatted:Justified
premised upon the concept of a wireless telecommunication overlay district. The current bylaw
requires a wireless facility to have a 600 foot setback from property zoned for an educational or
residential use. The application of this requirement results in very few properties in Town upon
which a wireless facility may be located. Therefore, the bylaw has run up against the Federal
Telecommunications Act of 1996 which dictates that a local government may not prohibit the
provision of personal wireless services. In a case last year, the Massachusetts Superior Court
decided that the federal law compelled the permitting of a wireless facility, even though the
facility did not meet the 600 foot setback.
This proposed bylaw delineates specific properties upon which a facility may locate,but only by
a special permit, with conditions, from the Planning Board. Those specific properties, located
with the intent to accommodate substantial gaps in telecommunication coverage, make up the
overlay district. The bylaw, in effect, tells an applicant where to look fast to place such a
facility. To reduce the number of new towers, the bylaw encourages placing a facility in the
same location as a currently existing facility. While this bylaw provides guidance as to where
the facility should be placed,any bylaw is still subject to the federal law.
The federal law prohibits the Town from limiting the placement of such facilities on the basis of
health effects of radiofrequency emissions beyond the requirements of the Federal
Communications Commission. The bylaw requires the applicant to demonstrate compliance
with those requirements. The Town can hire its own radiofrequency engineer, at the applicant's
expense, to review such compliance. The new bylaw would not have any financial effect upon
the Town.