The Zoning Board of Appeals of the Town of Vernon is hereby authorized to review and approve, approve with modifications or disapprove tower special use permits and site plans consistent with Article 16 of the Town Law of the State of New York, §§ 274-a and 274-b. All cellular towers, windmills and accessory facilities must comply with Article
XXI and/or Article
XVI, as applicable. The Zoning Board of Appeals will continue to have jurisdiction over special use permits for uses aside from telecommunications facilities.
The Town of Vernon recognizes the increased
demand for wireless communications transmitting facilities and wind
generation facilities and the need for the services they provide.
Often, these facilities require the construction of a tower and associated
structures. The intent of this article is to regulate telecommunications
and wind generation facilities (i.e., towers) in accordance with the
guidelines of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 by:
A. Accommodating the need for towers/antennas while regulating
their location and number in the community.
B. Minimizing adverse visual impacts of these towers
while regulating their location and number in the community.
C. Preserving and enhancing the positive aesthetic qualities
of the built and natural environment in the Town of Vernon.
D. Avoiding potential damage to adjacent properties from
tower failure, falling ice, etc., through engineering and proper siting.
E. Requiring the joint use of towers, when available,
and encouraging the placement of antennas on existing structures,
to reduce the number of such structures in the future. No new tower
may be established if there is a technically suitable space available
on an existing telecommunications tower or structure within the search
area that the new cell site is to serve.
All applicants for a tower special use permit
shall make written application to the Zoning Board of Appeals.
A. This application shall include:
(1)
Town-supplied permit application form.
(2)
Proof of notification (certified mail return
receipts to be given to the Town by the applicant) of all property
owners within 500 feet of the boundaries of the property on which
the tower is to be constructed.
(3)
Appropriate fee. (See the Town fee schedule in §
139-124.)
(4)
Site plan application forms, including long-form
EAF.
(5)
Site plan, in form and content acceptable to the Town according to Article
XXI of the Town Zoning Law, prepared to scale and in sufficient detail and accuracy, showing at a minimum:
(a)
The exact location of the proposed tower, together
with guy wires and guy anchors, if applicable.
(b)
The maximum height of the proposed tower.
(c)
A detail of tower type (monopole, guyed, freestanding
or other).
(d)
The color or colors of the tower.
(e)
The location, type and intensity of any lighting
on the tower.
(f)
The property boundaries. (A copy of a property
survey, including metes and bounds description, must also be provided.)
(g)
Proof of the landowner's consent if the applicant
will not own the property. (A copy of a lease agreement must also
be provided if the applicant will not own the property.)
(h)
The location of all structures on the property
and all structures on any adjacent property within 50 feet of the
property lines, together with the distance of these structures from
the tower.
(i)
The names of adjacent landowners.
(j)
The location, nature and extent of any proposed
fencing and landscaping or screening.
(k)
The location and nature of proposed utility
easements and access road, if applicable.
(l)
Building elevations of accessory structures
or immediately adjacent buildings.
(m)
An agricultural data statement if located within
500 feet of an agricultural taxing district.
(6)
"Before" and "after" propagation studies prepared
by a qualified radio frequency engineer (signed and sealed by a professional
engineer registered in the State of New York), demonstrating existing
signal coverage, contrasted with the proposed signal coverage resulting
from the proposed telecommunications facility.
(7)
A search ring prepared by a qualified radio
frequency engineer (signed and sealed documents by a professional
engineer registered in the State of New York) and overlaid on an appropriate
background map demonstrating the area within which the telecommunications
facility needs to be located in order to provide proper signal strength
and coverage to the target cell. The applicant must be prepared to
explain to the Zoning Board of Appeals why it selected the proposed
site, discuss the availability or lack of availability of a suitable
structure within the search ring which would have allowed for a collocated
antenna(s), and to what extent the applicant explored locating the
proposed tower in a more intensive use district. Correspondence with
other telecommunications companies concerning collocation is part
of this requirement.
B. The Zoning Board of Appeals, upon reviewing the application,
may request reasonable additional visual and aesthetic information
as it deems appropriate on a case-by-case basis. Such additional information
may include, among other things, enhanced landscaping plans, line-of-sight
drawings and/or visual simulations from viewpoints selected by the
Zoning Board of Appeals. Line-of-sight drawings and visual simulations
are mandatory for applications in residential and agricultural zoning
districts.
The following criteria will be considered by
the Zoning Board of Appeals prior to the approval/denial of a request
for a tower special use permit; the criteria listed may be used as
a basis to impose reasonable conditions on the applicant.
A. Siting preferences.
(1)
The Zoning Board of Appeals may require that
the proposed telecommunications facility be located in an alternate
technologically feasible and available location. A guideline for the
Town's preference, from most favorable to least favorable districts/property,
is as follows:
(a)
Property with an existing structure suitable
for collocation.
(d)
Planned development districts.
(f)
Planned Development Entertainment and Tourism
Districts.
(g)
Agricultural/Residential districts.
(h)
Planned Unit Development Districts.
B. Aesthetics. Telecommunications facilities shall be
located and buffered to the maximum extent which is practical and
technologically feasible to help ensure compatibility with surrounding
land uses. In order to minimize any adverse effect on neighboring
residences to the extent possible, the Zoning Board of Appeals may
impose reasonable conditions on the applicant, including the following:
(1)
The Zoning Board of Appeals may require a monopole
or guyed tower (if sufficient land is available to the applicant)
instead of a freestanding tower. Monopoles are a preferred design.
(2)
The Zoning Board of Appeals may require reasonable
landscaping consisting of trees or shrubs to screen the base of the
tower and/or to screen the tower to the extent possible from adjacent
residential property. Existing on-site trees and vegetation shall
be preserved to the maximum extent possible.
(3)
The Zoning Board of Appeals can request additional
site plan requirements such as specially designed towers, additional
screening, greater setbacks and improved landscaping to address aesthetic
concerns.
(4)
The Zoning Board of Appeals may require the
applicant to show that he has made good-faith efforts to collocate
on existing towers or other available and appropriate structures and/or
to construct new towers near existing towers in an effort to consolidate
visual disturbances.
(5)
Towers should be designed and sited so as to
avoid, whenever possible, application of FAA lighting and painting
requirements. Towers shall not be artificially lighted except as required
by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Towers shall be of a
nonreflective finish, the color of which shall be subject to approval.
Any lights which may be required by the FAA shall not consist of strobe
lights, unless specifically mandated by the FAA.
(6)
No tower shall contain any signs or advertising
devices. A small sign on the fencing shall be placed to identify the
ownership of the facility and a telephone number for emergencies.
(7)
The applicant must submit a copy of its policy
regarding collocation with other potential future applicants on the
proposed tower. Such policy must allow collocation.
C. Radio-frequency effect. The Zoning Board of Appeals
may impose a condition on the applicant that the communications antennas
be operated only at Federal Communications Commission (FCC) designated
frequencies and power levels and/or Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) technical exposure limits, and that the applicant provide competent
documentation to support that maximum allowable frequencies, power
levels and exposure limits for radiation will not be exceeded.
D. Traffic, access and safety.
(1)
A road turnaround and one parking space shall
be provided to assure adequate emergency and service access. Maximum
use of existing roads, public or private, shall be made. The use of
public roadways or road rights-of-way for the siting of a tower's
or antenna's accessory structures is prohibited.
(2)
All towers and guy anchors, if applicable, shall
be enclosed by a fence not less than eight feet in height or otherwise
sufficiently protected from trespassing or vandalism.
(3)
The applicant must comply with all applicable
state and federal regulations, including but not limited to FAA and
FCC regulations.
E. Removal of tower. The applicant shall agree to remove
the tower if the telecommunications facility becomes obsolete or ceases
to be used for its intended purpose for 12 consecutive months. The
Zoning Board of Appeals shall require the applicant to provide a demolition
bond (in an amount determined by the Zoning Board of Appeals based
on the cost of removal) for purposes of removing the telecommunications
facility in case the applicant fails to do so as required above. The
applicant shall submit to the Zoning Board of Appeals estimated costs
for removal.
F. Structural safety. During the application process
and every three years after construction of the tower, the applicant/owner
shall provide to the Codes Enforcement Officer a certification from
a qualified, professional engineer, certifying that the tower meets
applicable structural safety standards.
G. Maintenance of telecommunications facility. All telecommunications
facilities shall be maintained in good order and repair.
Any facility receiving a tower special use permit
that subsequently does not meet the requirements of that permit shall
have its permit revoked, and the tower shall be removed within 90
days of notification by the Town.
Telecommunications facilities fees shall be
as follows:
A. Tower special use permit: application fee of $2,500
(includes site plan fee); plus any additional costs for outside consultants
incurred by the Town for review of propagation studies, search ring
and analysis, collocation possibilities, or the structural planned
specification for the construction of the tower, or any other review
deemed necessary by Town officials.
B. Building permit fee: base fee of $250 (examination
of plans and review); plus $10 per $1,000 of value of total verified
construction cost.