The purpose of these regulations is to promote health, safety,
and the general welfare of the residents of the Town of Spencer; to
provide standards for the safe provision of telecommunications consistent
with applicable federal and state regulations; to minimize the total
number of telecommunications towers in the community by encouraging
shared use of existing and future towers and the use of existing tall
buildings and other high structures and by encouraging alternative
technologies that would minimize the need for multiple towers; and
to minimize adverse visual effects from telecommunications towers
by requiring careful siting, visual impact assessment, and appropriate
landscaping.
No telecommunications facility shall be erected in the Town
of Spencer unless and until the person seeking to erect same shall
have obtained a special approval and site plan approval from the Town
Board after a recommendation from the Planning Board in accordance
with this chapter.
No special approval or renewal thereof or modification of a
current special approval relating to a telecommunications facility
shall be recommended by the Planning Board or authorized by the Town
Board unless it finds that such telecommunications facility:
A. Is necessary to meet current or reasonably expected demands for services;
B. Conforms with all federal and state laws and all applicable rules
or regulations promulgated by the Federal Communications Commission
(the "FCC"), Federal Aviation Administration (the "FAA"), or any other
federal agencies having jurisdiction;
C. Is considered a public utility in the State of New York;
D. Is sited, designed and constructed in a manner which minimizes:
(1) Visual impact to the extent practical; and
(2) Adverse impacts upon migratory and other birds and other wildlife;
E. Complies with all other requirements of this chapter;
F. Is the most appropriate site among those available within the technically
feasible area for the location of a telecommunications facility;
G. Is designed so as to be safe and secure and not pose a hazard to
the applicant's property, any surrounding property, and the community
in general;
H. Is designed such that the location, arrangement, size, and general
site compatibility of buildings, lighting, signs, fencing, towers
and other improvements are adequate and appropriate;
I. Has adequately and appropriately designed stormwater, drainage and
electrical power facilities;
J. Does not have an adverse effect on environmentally sensitive areas,
including but not limited to wetlands, floodplains, woodlands, steep
slopes, and watercourses, and on other open space areas of importance
to the neighborhood or community or, if the Town Board finds adverse
effects are unavoidable, the Town Board determines that the effects
have been minimized to the greatest extent possible and the benefit
to the community of the proposed facility outweighs such adverse environmental
effects as so minimized;
K. Complies with any other local rule or law, including any building
code or subdivision regulation, if applicable, and any other applicable
laws, rules, requirements, or policies; and
L. When including the construction of a tower, such tower is designed
to accommodate future shared use by at least two other telecommunications
service providers. Any subsequent location of telecommunications equipment
by other service providers on existing towers specifically designed
for shared use shall not require a new or modified special permit
if there would be no increase in the height of the tower. However,
the additional equipment will require site plan review.
The shared use of existing telecommunications facilities or
other structures shall be preferred to the construction of new facilities.
Any special approval application, renewal or modification thereof
shall include proof that reasonable efforts have been made to collocate
within an existing telecommunications facility or upon an existing
structure. The application shall include an adequate inventory report
specifying existing telecommunications facility sites and structures
exceeding 75% of the height of the proposed tower within the search
range of the cell grid. The inventory report shall contain an evaluation
of opportunities for shared use as an alternative to the proposed
location. The applicant must demonstrate that the proposed telecommunications
facility cannot be accommodated on existing telecommunications facility
sites in the inventory due to one or more of the following reasons:
A. The planned equipment would exceed the structural capacity of existing
and approved telecommunications facilities or other structures, considering
existing and reasonably anticipated future use for those facilities;
B. The planned equipment would cause radio frequency interference with
other existing or planned equipment, which cannot be reasonably prevented;
C. Existing or approved telecommunications facilities or other structures
do not have space and cannot be modified to provide space on which
proposed equipment can be placed so it can function effectively and
reasonably;
D. Other technical reasons make it impracticable to place the equipment
proposed by the applicant on existing facilities or structures;
E. The property owner or owner of the existing telecommunications facility
or other structure refuses to allow such collocation.
The application for a special approval and site plan approval
for the construction of a telecommunications facility shall include,
without altering any other application requirements set forth elsewhere
in this chapter:
A. A completed project application form in such detail and containing
such information as the Town Planning Board or Town Board may require.
B. Completed EAF and visual EAF.
C. Site plan showing such information and details as the Planning Board
or Town Board may reasonably require, including, but not limited to:
(1) The exact location, including geographic coordinates, of the proposed
telecommunications facility, including any towers, guy wires and anchors,
if applicable;
(2) The maximum height of the proposed facility, including all appurtenances;
(3) A detail of tower type, if any, including engineering drawings from
the tower manufacturer (monopole, guyed, freestanding, or other),
showing the tower, if applicable, any guying or anchoring, the foundation
of any structure, colors of any structure, and all other construction
details;
(4) The location, type and intensity of any lighting on the tower;
(5) Property boundaries and names of all adjacent landowners;
(6) Proof of the landowner's consent to the erection of the facility
and agreement to abide by the local law if the applicant is not the
landowner;
(7) The location of all other structures on the property and all structures
on any adjacent property within 100 feet of the property lines, together
with the distance of these structures from any proposed tower or other
structure;
(8) The location, nature and extent of any proposed fencing, landscaping
and screening; and
(9) The location and nature of any proposed utility easements and access
roads or drives.
D. Agreement that the applicant will negotiate in good faith with any
subsequent applicant seeking to collocate a telecommunications facility
on the initial applicant's structures. This agreement shall commit
the initial applicant and landowner and their respective successors
in interest to:
(1) Respond in a timely, comprehensive manner to a request for information
from a potential shared-use applicant.
(2) Negotiate in good faith for shared use by third parties.
(3) Allow shared use if an applicant agrees in writing to pay reasonable
charges for same.
(4) Make no more than a reasonable charge for shared use, based upon
generally accepted accounting principles. The charge may include but
is not limited to a pro-rata share of the cost of site selection,
planning, project administration, land costs, site design, construction
and maintenance, financing, return on equity, and depreciation, and
all of the costs of adapting the tower or equipment to accommodate
a shared user without causing electromagnetic interference or causing
uses on the site to emit electromagnetic radiation in excess of levels
permitted by the FCC.
E. The agreement for removal of the facility referred to above.
F. Copies of all documents submitted to the FCC or any other governmental
agency having jurisdiction.
G. Certification from an engineer licensed in New York to the effect
that all structures, including particularly any towers, have been
designed in accordance with good engineering practices and in accordance
with generally accepted standards for construction of structures in
the geographic location of intended construction, and including, if
a tower is planned, a certification as to the wind loads the tower
as constructed on the proposed site is designed to withstand, and
that such wind loads are those for which it is appropriate to design
towers in the area of the Town of Spencer.
H. An application fee for a new facility, or an application for a modification
of an existing facility, shall be as set from time to time by resolution
of the Town Board. In addition, if required by the Town Board, the
applicant shall deposit an amount, not in excess of 1% of the anticipated
cost of the telecommunications facility, for application to the costs
of any consultants retained by the Town as provided above and to the
costs of conducting any environmental or other review. If such deposit
is, or is about to be, expended, the applicant shall replenish the
deposit within 15 days of notification of the amount required from
the Town. Any unused deposit amounts shall be returned to the applicant
upon completion of the review process.
A "telecommunications facility" is any equipment, other than
(i) equipment used by amateur radio licensees regulated by the Federal
Communications Commission; or (ii) equipment that is used by a governmental
unit or agency that is statutorily expressly exempt from regulation
by the Town of Spencer; or (iii) mobile equipment that is contained
in a car or other motor vehicle or is completely portable and not
affixed in any manner to realty [the exception for mobile equipment
does not extend to any antenna(s) attached, directly or indirectly
such as on a tower or other structure, to realty or to other facilities
used in connection with such mobile equipment]; used in connection
with the provision of two-way wireless communication services, including
cellular telephone services, personal communications services, private
radio communications services, fire and emergency communications,
and any other private or public radio communications transmissions
regulated by the FCC in accordance with the Telecommunications Act
of 1996 and other federal laws. Such uses shall include private commercial
uses as well as public uses. A telecommunications facility shall include
monopole, guyed, or latticework tower(s), as well as antenna(s), switching
stations, principal and accessory telecommunications equipment and
supporting masts, wires, structures, and buildings.