12.05.070 Design standards.
A. The purpose of this section is to identify preferences and requirements for the location and design of WTFs, to provide guidance to prospective applicants as they seek appropriate WTF locations within the town, and to provide guidance to the city manager in determining whether to grant, grant with conditions, or to deny a WTF application.
B. Applications must seek to maximize concealment and/or screening: All WTF antennas, mounting hardware, and cabling shall be covered or painted to match the color and texture of the building, tower, or pole on which it is mounted. Equipment cabinets, service panels, and service connections shall be screened by solid walls, landscaping, or berms. Screening shall blend with or enhance the surrounding context in terms of scale, form, texture, materials, and color. Any WTF shall be concealed as much as possible by blending into the natural and/or physical environment. All gates shall be opaque.
C. The location for a WTF should take into consideration the following preference order (with subsection (C)(1) of this section being the highest preference):
1. Public property;
2. Existing utility poles (with poles without electric distribution lines being favored over poles supporting electric distribution lines); or other support structures or wireless towers where collocation has been pre-approved (where the application is consistent with the pre-approval);
3. Existing support structures or wireless towers on nonresidential private property; and
4. New concealed WTF in the rights-of-way or on private property.
D. WTFs should be collocated with existing WTFs, if within one thousand five hundred feet of an existing visible WTF, unless the town determines that the particular design proposed would not create excessive visual clutter or would otherwise create harms the town cannot ameliorate.
E. A WTF located in the rights-of-way:
1. Shall, with respect to its pole-mounted components, be located on an existing utility pole serving another utility; or
2. Shall be located in a concealed WTF consistent with other existing natural or manmade features in the rights-of-way near the location where the WTF is to be located; or
3. Shall, with respect to its pole-mounted components, be located on a new utility pole where other telephone distribution lines are aerial, if there are no reasonable alternatives, and the applicant is authorized to construct new utility poles.
F. The pole-mounted components of a WTF on a utility pole shall, whether in or outside of the rights-of-way:
1. Comply with CPUC General Order 95 and General Order 128 as they may be amended or replaced;
2. Be consistent with the size and shape of pole-mounted equipment installed by communications companies on utility poles near the WTF.
G. The ground-mounted components of a WTF shall, whether in or outside of the rights-of-way:
1. To the extent the structures are utility boxes within the meaning of this code, be reviewed and subject to the same approvals as utility boxes installed by other communications companies; and
2. Shall be located flush to grade where necessary to avoid incommoding the public or creating a hazard; and
3. To the extent permitted aboveground, shall otherwise be appropriately screened, landscaped and camouflaged to blend in with the surroundings, and nonreflective paints shall be used.
H. Unless it is determined that there is no less intrusive alternative available to close a significant gap in the service provided by a WTF, or it is determined that the town is legally required to approve an application, the city manager may not approve an application for a WTF whose highest point would be more than thirty-five feet above surrounding ground level except as follows:
1. The support structure or wireless tower to which the WTF would be attached is an existing support structure or wireless tower, was taller than thirty-five feet above the immediate surrounding ground level on January 1, 2014, and the WTF will not be higher than ten feet above the highest point of the support structure or wireless tower and attachments thereto in existence on January 1, 2014;
2. The WTF will be a concealed WTF, whose height and design is consistent with the surrounding features it mimics.
I. Unless it is determined by the town that there is no less intrusive alternative available to close a significant gap in the service provided by a WTF; or it is determined that the town is legally required to approve an application, the city manager may not approve an application for a WTF where the application proposes a design that would require extensions from any support structure inconsistent in size with the extensions otherwise permitted under the code.
J. A WTF and all subsequent modifications shall be designed and located to minimize the impact on the surrounding neighborhood, and to maintain the character and appearance of the town, consistent with other provisions of the code. To that end, WTFs should:
1. Employ the least intrusive design for the proposed location in terms of size, mass, visual and physical impact, and effects on properties from which the WTF is visible; and
2. Accommodate collocation consistent with the other design requirements of this chapter; and
3. Be consistent with the general plan.
K. Without limiting the foregoing, all portions of a WTF affixed to a support structure shall be designed to blend in or be screened from view in a manner consistent with the support structure’s architectural style, color and materials when viewed from any part of the town. WTFs shall be covered, painted and textured or otherwise camouflaged to match the color and texture of the support structure on which they are mounted. Where the support structure is a building, the WTF, including without limitation base station cabinets, remote transmitters and receivers, and antenna amplifiers, shall be placed within the building or mounted behind a parapet screened from public view unless that is not feasible. If the city manager determines that such in-building placement is not feasible, the equipment shall be roof-mounted in an enclosure or otherwise screened from public view as approved by the city manager.
L. WTFs shall not be lighted except with the authorization of the city manager. The city manager may permit lighting at the lowest intensity necessary:
1. For proximity-triggered and/or timer-controlled security lighting; or
2. To comply with regulations for the illumination of the any flag attached to a WTF; or
3. Where such lighting is required by the city manager to protect public health or welfare, or as part of the camouflage for a particular design.
M. No advertising signage shall be displayed on any WTF except for government-required signs shown in the WTF permit application. Additionally site identification, address, warning and similar information plates may be permitted where approved by the city manager.
N. The WTF shall comply with all requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (“ADA”) as may be amended or replaced.
O. The WTF shall not incommode the public (including, without limitation, persons with disabilities) in its use of any structure, or any portion of the rights-of-way.
P. All new wireless towers shall be concealed. The installation of an uncamouflaged wireless tower is prohibited. (Ord. 613 (part), 2015; Ord. 612 (part), 2015)