(a)
The primary purpose and intent of this chapter is to provide a uniform
and comprehensive set of regulations and standards for the permitting,
development, siting, installation, design, operation, and maintenance
of small wireless facilities within the public rights-of-way in the
Town of Westfield. A secondary purpose of this chapter is to better
manage access to and use of its rights-of-way by traditional utilities
providing, for example, electric, wired telephone, fiber optic, or
wired cable TV service.
(b)
These regulations are intended to prescribe clear and reasonable
criteria to assess and process applications in a consistent and expeditious
manner, while reducing the impacts associated with small wireless
facilities. This chapter provides standards necessary to:
(1)
Preserve and promote harmonious land uses and the public right-of-way
in the Town;
(2)
Promote and protect public safety, community welfare, visual resources,
and the aesthetic quality of the Town consistent with the goals, objectives,
and policies of the Master Plan;
(3)
Provide for the orderly, managed, and efficient development of small
wireless facilities in accordance with state and federal laws, rules,
and regulations; and
(4)
Encourage new and more efficient technology in the provision of small
wireless facilities.
(c)
This chapter is not intended to, nor shall it be interpreted or applied
to:
(1)
Prohibit or effectively prohibit any personal wireless service provider's
ability to provide personal wireless services;
(2)
Prohibit or effectively prohibit any entity's ability to provide
any interstate or intrastate telecommunications service, subject to
any competitively neutral and nondiscriminatory rules or regulations
for rights-of-way management;
(3)
Unreasonably discriminate among providers of functionally equivalent
services;
(4)
Deny any request for authorization to place, construct, or modify
small wireless facilities on the basis of environmental effects of
radio frequency emissions to the extent that such small wireless facilities
comply with the FCC's regulations concerning such emissions;
(5)
Prohibit any co-location or modification that the Town may not deny
under federal or state law; or
(6)
Otherwise authorize the Town to preempt any applicable federal or
state law.
(d)
This chapter is not intended to regulate traditional cell towers,
also known as "macro towers", "macro cells," "macro wireless facilities"
or "macro sites."
