A.
Background. Section 6409(a) of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012, Pub. L. 112-96, codified as 47 U.S.C. § 1455(a) ("Section 6409"), generally requires that State and local governments "may not deny, and shall approve" requests to collocate, remove or replace transmission equipment at an existing tower or base station. Federal Communication Commission ("FCC") regulations interpret this statute and establish procedural rules for local review, which generally preempt certain subjective land-use regulations, limit permit application content requirements and provide the applicant with a potential "deemed granted" remedy when the State or local government fails to approve or deny the request within 60 days after submittal (accounting for any tolling periods). Moreover, whereas Section 704 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Pub. L. 104-104, codified as 47 U.S.C. § 332, applies to only "personal wireless service facilities" (e.g., cellular telephone towers and equipment), Section 6409 applies to all "wireless" facilities licensed or authorized by the FCC (e.g., cellular, Wi-Fi, satellite, microwave backhaul, etc.).
B.
Findings. The City Council finds that the overlap between wireless deployments covered under Section 6409 and other wireless deployments, combined with the different substantive and procedural rules applicable to such deployments, creates a potential for confusion that harms the public interest in both efficient wireless facilities deployment and carefully planned community development in accordance with local values. The City Council further finds that a separate permit application and review process specifically designed for compliance with Section 6409 contained in a Part devoted to Section 6409 will mitigate such potential confusion, streamline local review and preserve the city's land-use authority to the maximum extent possible.
C.
Intent. The City of Lakewood intends this Part to establish reasonable and uniform standards and procedures in a manner that protects and promotes the public health, safety and welfare, consistent with and subject to federal and California state law, for wireless facilities collocations and modifications pursuant to Section 6409, and related FCC regulations codified in 47 C.F.R. §§ 1.40001 et seq. This Section 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, regulations or other legal requirements 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 personal wireless service facilities on the basis of environmental effects of radio frequency emissions to the extent that such wireless facilities comply with the FCC's regulations concerning such emissions; (5) prohibit any collocation or modification that the City may not deny under federal or California state law; or (6) impose and unfair, unreasonable, discriminatory or anticompetitive fees that exceed the reasonable cost to provide the services for which the fee is charged; or (7) otherwise authorize the City to preempt any applicable federal or California state law.