LAKE COUNTY ?- A proposed ordinance meant to address concerns about the placement of cellular towers in Lake County was given the nod Tuesday by the county board of supervisors. It will now begin the formal process of adoption.
“What that means is we do an environmental review ? it”s subject to CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act), so we”ll review it against CEQA guidelines. We”ll put a legal notice in the paper, schedule a public hearing before the planning commission, and they”ll be asked to review the draft ordinance and make recommendations to the board of supervisors,” Community Development director Rick Coel said Wednesday.
At the center of the proposed ordinance is a “matrix” that has existed for upwards of 10 years within Lake County Code that governs zoning. “It”s designed so that they”re (towers) allowed out in the agricultural or rural areas on the edges and between communities, where cellular companies want to go anyway because they can get the height on a mountain further away and can cover more area,” Coel said.
A table outlining permits allowed in different zones shows that wireless communications towers 65 feet high or less are allowed in all zones except for those designated W ? wetlands, or U ? unclassified. Towers higher than 65 feet require a major use permit, and are not allowed on most residential and commercial lands.
“The thought is you don”t put them (towers) next to residences or highways … in downtown commercial districts … you don”t want them next to resorts when you”re trying to attract tourism to the county to help the economy,” Coel said.
With its hands tied legally regarding what it can regulate, the board asked Coel and his staff to develop a plan to address aesthetics, design requirements, set-back requirements, compliance with federal regulations, the possibility of co-location versus building a new tower and a means of deciding if adequate coverage already exists.
“It (the ordinance) also requires applicants and future permit holders of cell towers ? the cell companies ? to furnish information annually to the county on their compliance with FCC frequency limitations,” Coel said Wednesday.
The telecommunications industry is regulated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which includes not only cellular operations, but radio, television and other forms of communication that require towers that can use large amounts of electricity.
The Telecommunications Act of 1996 says the county cannot decide where or even if telecommunication towers will be built in the county “on the basis of environmental effects of radio frequency emissions.”
“The only thing we were legally able to do was require the annual reports to be prepared by the tower operators,” Coel said. “Under the ordinance they would need to submit, from their RF (radio frequency) engineers, a study to our department each year for each of their sites. We can look at that and start to draw a bigger picture of cell tower coverage and frequency issues.
“The harsh reality is that the FCC has the say in frequency, not local governments. At the local level we can control where the tower goes primarily based on aesthetic impacts, and environmental concerns.”
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com
