Chattanooga Tower Decision Upheld by FCC
The full FCC upheld a decision by a division of the Wireless Bureau that Wireless Properties hadn't completed a required review under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act because the company didn’t disclose that the location near a…
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wireless tower in Chattanooga was the historically significant Bragg Reservation. “We hold that the Section 106 review is not complete because Wireless Properties failed to identify all of the listed or determined eligible historic properties within the proposed tower’s Area of Potential Effects,” the FCC said. Although the Tennessee Historical Commission, the state historic preservation officer for Tennessee under the NHPA, had concurred with the applicant’s determination “that the proposed tower would have no adverse effect, that determination was based on Wireless Properties’ materially incomplete submission,” the FCC said. The tower would be within 1,000 feet of the reservation, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The order confirmed the earlier determination by the bureau’s Spectrum and Competition and Policy Division. Wireless Properties, which proposed a 150-foot monopole tower, asked for FCC review. Commissioner Ajit Pai voted for the order, but clarified in a statement that the FCC doesn't have unlimited authority to reopen a proceeding. “I believe the FCC lawfully exercises that authority in this case because the applicant omitted material information from its application,” he said. “In particular, it did not identify a National Park that fell within the proposed tower’s Area of Potential Affect.”