It is the purpose of this article:
A. To establish clear standards for the siting of wireless
communications facilities, buildings and structures, equipment, communications
towers, antenna towers and monopoles.
B. To promote the health, safety and general welfare
of the residents of New Paltz through the establishment of minimum
standards to reduce the adverse visual effects of communications facilities,
including but not limited to, transmission towers and antennas, through
the use of advanced technology, careful design, siting and screening
and buffering.
C. To protect residential areas and land uses and property
values from potential adverse impacts of towers and antennas.
D. To encourage the location of communications facilities
and communications towers in areas suitably screened, buffered and
adequately separated from residential uses.
E. To minimize the total number of communications facilities
and communications towers throughout the community.
F. To encourage the joint use of new and existing communications
tower sites as a primary option rather than construction of additional
single-use communications towers while recognizing that collocation
on higher towers is not always preferable to two less visible, less
obtrusive shorter towers; thereby maximizing the use of existing communications
towers or alternative antenna host sites, while not unreasonably limiting
competition among communication providers or unreasonably limiting
reception of receive-only antennas.
G. To require users of communications towers and antennas
to locate them, to the extent possible, in areas where the adverse
impact on the community is shown to be minimal.
H. To require users of communications towers and antennas
to configure them in a way that minimizes adverse visual, aesthetic
and community character intrusion impacts caused by the installation
and view of communications towers and antennas, through careful design,
siting, landscape screening and buffering, sufficient setbacks to
reduce visual impacts to adjacent properties and innovative camouflaging
techniques such as alternative tower structures, thereby protecting
the physical appearance of the community and preserving its scenic
and natural beauty.
I. To avoid potential damage to adjacent properties from
communications towers through careful engineering and appropriate
siting of communications towers.
J. To enhance the ability of the providers of telecommunications
services to provide such services to the community quickly, effectively
and efficiently by facilitating the siting of personal wireless communications
facilities.
As used in this article, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
ADEQUATE COVERAGE
Coverage is considered to be adequate within the service
area of the Town of New Paltz if the minimum standards set forth by
the Federal Communications Commission to permit the applicant to operate
a personal wireless communications services within the area are met.
ALTERNATIVE TOWER STRUCTURE
Man-made trees, clock towers, bell steeples, light poles
and similar alternative designs including structures that camouflage
or conceal the presence of antennas or towers.
ANTENNA
A system of electrical conductors that transmit or receive
radio frequency waves. Such waves shall include but not be limited
to radio navigation, radio, television, wireless and microwave communications.
COLLOCATION
The siting and/or mounting of multiple communications facilities
used by the same provider, or by two or more competing providers,
on the same property and/or antenna support structure or communications
tower.
MAJOR WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS FACILITY
Any wireless communications facility that is not a minor
wireless communications facility, including but not limited to any
facilities including any wireless communications towers, as hereinafter
defined.
MINOR WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS FACILITIES
Any wireless communications facility situated on or in an
existing building or other structure where such equipment consists
of a combination of antennas or other receiving device necessary in
number to facilitate the provision of wireless communications services
from such location, provided that such minor installation is comprised
of antennas or transmitting and receiving devices which are no more
than 10 feet in height, which are mounted on supports affixed to an
existing structure, and operates with all significant equipment accessory
thereto (other than the aforementioned antennas and transmitting or
receiving devices, supports and connecting cables), installed in interior
space appurtenant to such existing building, tower or structure.
WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS FACILITY
Any site containing equipment used in connection with the
commercial operation of wireless communications services, as defined
herein, and as the term "personal wireless services facility" is defined
in the Communications Act of 1934, as amended by the Telecommunications
Act of 1996, 47 U.S.C. § 332(c)(7)(C), or as hereafter amended,
to transmit and/or receive frequencies, including but not limited
to antennas, monopoles, equipment, appurtenances and structures.
WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS SERVICES
The provision of personal wireless communications services,
including but not limited to those more commonly referred to as "cellular
telephone service," which services are regulated by the Federal Communications
Commission in accordance with the Communications Act of 1934, as amended
by the Telecommunications Act of 1996, 47 U.S.C. § 332(c)(7)(C),
or as hereafter amended.
WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS TOWERS
Any freestanding structure including lattice structures or
framework and freestanding self-supported vertical pole (commonly
known as "monopole") on which any equipment is located in connection
with the provision of wireless communications services.
The Planning Board shall comply with the provisions
of the State Environmental Quality Review Act under Article 8 of the
Environmental Conservation Law and its implementing regulations. An
application for approval of a major wireless communications facility
shall constitute a Type 1 action.
No wireless communications facilities except
those approved prior to the effective date of these regulations shall
be used, located, constructed or maintained on any lot, structure
or land area unless in conformity with these regulations. No wireless
communications facilities may hereafter be erected, moved, reconstructed,
changed or altered unless in conformity with these regulations. No
existing structure shall be modified to serve as a wireless communications
facility unless in conformity with these regulations.
A. All communications facilities shall at all times be
in conformance with the rules and regulations of any governmental
entity having jurisdiction over such communications facilities and
uses, antenna and/or supporting structures and towers, including,
without limitation, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
B. All communications facilities shall be operated and
maintained by an FCC licensee only.
C. All communications facilities shall be shown to be
necessary to provide coverage to an area of Town which currently is
proven to include inadequate coverage and that any related communications
tower or antenna is proposed at the minimum height and aesthetic intrusion
possible to provide that necessary coverage. The applicant seeking
to locate a communications facility in the Town of New Paltz shall
demonstrate the need for new or additional antennas or communications
towers.
D. All communications facilities, if proposed for placement
on a lot that is within or abuts a residential district, shall prove
that adequate coverage cannot be achieved by siting the facility on
a lot which is not in or does not abut a residential district.
E. All communications facilities shall be constructed
and maintained in conformance with all building, electrical, fire
prevention and other applicable codes.
Major wireless communications facilities shall
be located only within the Wireless Communications Facilities Overlay
District within the Town of New Paltz which consists of the following
areas: a one-half-mile-wide corridor centered on the New York State
Thruway for its entire length in the Town except that area that lies
within 1,000 feet from New York State Route 299 in both a southerly
and northerly direction.
At all times, the shared use within existing
tall structures (for example, multistory buildings, church steeples,
farm silos, etc.) and existing approved towers shall be preferred
to the construction of major wireless communications facilities including
new wireless communications towers and/or monopole.
A. Minor wireless communications facilities are a permitted use in all zoning districts within the Town of New Paltz, subject to site plan review by the Planning Board in accordance with §
140-52 of the Code of the Town of New Paltz. The Planning Board may require the applicant to submit any of the items under §§
140-74 and
140-75 herein as part of the site plan review process.
B. An application for site plan approval of a minor telecommunications
facility shall include the following:
(1) A completed site plan application form.
(2) Consent from the owner of the existing facility to
allow shared use.
(3) A site plan. The site plan shall show all existing
and proposed structures and improvements including antennas, roads,
buildings, guy wires and anchors, parking and landscaping and shall
include grading plans for new facilities and roads. Any methods used
to conceal the modification to the existing facility shall be indicated
on the site plan.
(4) An engineer's report certifying that the proposed
shared use will not diminish the structural integrity and safety of
the existing structure, will not hamper existing emergency networks
and explaining what modifications, if any, will be required in order
to certify the above.
(5) A copy of the applicant's Federal Communications Commission
license.
(6) The Planning Board may waive any of the above requirements
if it is demonstrated by the applicant that under the facts and circumstances
the submission of such documentation would cause an unnecessary and
undue hardship.
(7) The Planning Board may require any other documentation,
reports or evidence that it deems necessary to ensure that the health,
safety and welfare of the community are adequately addressed.
If any provision of this article or the application
of any other provision to any item in this article is held invalid,
the invalidity of that provision or application shall not affect any
of the other provisions or the application of those provisions to
other items in this chapter or article.