Congress and the FCC have, pursuant to the authority granted by 47 USC 253(c) and 332(a), required local governments to act on wireless communication facility applications within a reasonable period of time and have established time limits or "shot clocks" for local review. The Washington State Legislature has also adopted similar limitations under the provisions of Chapter 35.99 RCW. Accordingly, the City adopts the following time limits for review of applications for eligible facility requests, small wireless permits, and other approvals for service providers of telecommunication services regardless of whether filed under this chapter or Chapter 19.137 MTMC.
(Ord. 2743 § 1, 2019)
A. 
Application Review.
1. 
Application. The Director shall prepare and make publicly available an application form which shall be limited to the information necessary for the City to consider whether an application is an eligible facilities request. The applicant is not required to demonstrate a need or business case for the proposed modification.
2. 
Type of Review. Upon receipt of an application for an eligible facilities request pursuant to this chapter, the Director shall review the application to determine whether it qualifies as an eligible facilities request.
3. 
Time Frame for Review. Within 60 days of the date on which an applicant submits an application seeking approval under this chapter, the Director shall approve the application unless he/she determines that the application is not covered by this article.
4. 
Tolling of the Time Frame for Review. The 60-day review period begins to run when the application is filed and may be tolled only by mutual agreement by the Director and the applicant or in cases where the Director determines that the application is incomplete. The time frame for review of an eligible facilities request is not tolled by a moratorium on the review of applications.
a. 
To toll the time frame for incompleteness, the Director shall provide written notice to the applicant within 30 days of receipt of the application, clearly and specifically delineating all missing documents or information required in the application.
b. 
The time frame for review begins running again when the applicant makes supplemental submission in response to the Director's notice of incompleteness.
c. 
Following a supplemental submission, the Director will notify the applicant within 10 days that the supplemental submission did not provide the information identified in the original notice delineating missing information. The time frame is tolled in the case of second or subsequent notices pursuant to the procedures identified in this subsection. Second or subsequent notice of incompleteness may not specify missing documents or information that was not delineated in the original notice of incompleteness.
B. 
Determination That Application Is Not an Eligible Facilities Request. If the Director determines that the applicant's request does not qualify as an eligible facilities request, the Director shall deny the application. To the extent additional information is necessary, the Director may request such information from the applicant to evaluate the application under other provisions of this chapter and applicable law.
C. 
Failure to Act. In the event the Director fails to approve or deny a request for an eligible facilities request within the time frame for review (accounting for any tolling), the request shall be deemed granted. The deemed grant does not become effective until the applicant notifies the Director in writing after the review period has expired (accounting for any tolling) that the application has been deemed granted.
D. 
Remedies. Both the applicant and the City may bring claims related to Section 6409(a) of the Spectrum Act to any court of competent jurisdiction.
(Ord. 2743 § 1, 2019)
Eligible collocations (see Chapter 19.137 MTMC) shall be processed within 90 days of receipt of an application. The Director will notify the applicant within 30 days of receipt of an application whether it is complete or if additional information is required. The term "collocation" shall not apply to the initial placement of a small wireless facility on a tower or base station that was not in existence on the date the application was filed.
(Ord. 2743 § 1, 2019)
Unless otherwise provided for in Articles VI and VII of this chapter, applications to install new wireless communications facilities shall be processed within 150 days of receipt of a complete application. The Director will notify the applicant within 30 days of receipt of an application whether it is complete or if additional information is required.
(Ord. 2743 § 1, 2019)