Communities are attempting to reconcile law, regulation and concerns as more carriers want...

providers” that want to locate in the rights of way, said Fort Lauderdale, Fla., municipal telecom lawyer Gary Resnick, also part of the FCC’s Intergovernmental Advisory Committee since 2006. But concerns among communities include not only those of health and environment but aesthetic and property value, said Mary Beth Henry, deputy director of the Portland, Ore., Office of Cable Communications and Franchise Management and the Mt. Hood Cable Regulatory Commission. “In Portland we really needed to involve everybody,” Henry said. She described elaborate neighborhood meetings to discuss what rights-of-way management entailed as more wireless companies seek out the space. There’s now “a need for wireless infrastructure in neighborhoods,” she said. Of the 1,007 cell sites in Portland, 76 are located in the public right-of-way space, she said. American Tower State & Local Government Affairs Director Liz Hill emphasized the importance of collocation on these sites. “The visual impact is already there,” she said. “It reduces citizen outcry.” Portland hasn’t added new towers since 2004, Henry said. Industry should be invited to the discussions, Hill said, suggesting several industry resources. Communities should update their ordinances if they're from the “pre-iPhone era” preceding 2007, she added, noting that industry doesn’t like dealing with “messy” litigation any more than communities. Federal law can’t keep up with the technological changes whereas local governments can, said Best Best’s Nicholas Miller, a municipal telecom lawyer who specializes in representing local governments. He advocated for ways local communities can still exert their powers on the rights of way and other public spaces. “Don’t abandon your police power authority,” he said. The law doesn’t keep up with regulation, Resnick said, calling wireless and other similar advances examples of “disruptive technologies.”