Cities Poised to Protest Proposed Wireless Siting Rule Change
A rulemaking notice approved by the FCC in September (CD Sept 27 p10) designed to cut red tape on the deployment of distributed antenna systems and small cells is raising concerns for cities, said Mayor John Marks of Tallahassee, Fla. He is acting chairman of the U.S. Conference of Mayors Transportation and Communication Committee, which met Thursday to get an update on that and other issues.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
Tower siting “is a huge issue for us in our cities,” Marks said in an interview. The proposed rules “would take away from us the discretion to determine how properties in our community are utilized,” he said. “For that to be usurped by a governmental entity, especially at the federal level where we have no control, causes us some very serious problems. This is a mandate from the federal government and it could be an unfunded mandate too.” Marks said he expects the mayors and the National League of Cities and the National Association of Counties to weigh in on the NPRM.
The notice largely was aimed at implementing Section 6409(a) of the 2012 Spectrum Act, the FCC said in the notice (http://bit.ly/1eG5gjq). The act stipulates “a State or local government may not deny, and shall approve, any eligible facilities request for a modification of an existing wireless tower or base station that does not substantially change the physical dimensions of such tower or base station.”
The committee heard a call to action from Joseph Van Eaton, a lawyer from the Best Best firm who represents cities, about what he described as a sleeper order that should concern cities. “Nothing in this rule proposed by the FCC retains local authority to look at safety issues, to look at historic preservation issues or to look at environmental issues,” he said. Van Eaton encouraged the mayors to take a closer look and file comments at the FCC when they're due Feb. 3. Replies are due March 5.
"I think it’s getting the mayors’ attention,” though many other issues also are before them, Van Eaton told us. “It’s a slow process.” The timing hasn’t helped since the NPRM was released days before the start of the partial federal government shutdown and a Federal Register notice setting comment deadlines came out just before Thanksgiving. “I think as this comes to the fore, you're going to see a lot of people begin to ask about the potential impacts,” he said. “The amount of money cities have invested in beautifying their communities, for historic preservation, is enormous. The FCC is really threatening all of that through these proposed rules."
The committee also was briefed by Walter Johnson, chief of the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology’s Electromagnetic Compatibility Division, on the agency’s broadband speed measurement program. Johnson said the program is being expanded to include mobile wireless performance. “We are becoming a mobile broadband society,” he said. “The quality of coverage of wireless is going to affect your businesses, your city agencies, your citizens’ daily lives, public safety, and, ultimately, your budgets.” The FCC’s goal “is to provide the most accurate information on mobile all over the United States,” he said.