A New Hampshire town has approved a zoning ordinance forbidding wireless antennas in residential areas, in what the local planning director characterizes as an attempt to “get in front of the curve” of a changing industry.
“Our job is to deal with things before they become problems,” said Peter Lowitt, director of planning and economic development for Londonderry, N.H.
Londonderry is one of numerous U.S. communities beginning to look down the barrel of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, seeing a future ripe with local authority. It is believed to be the first New Hampshire community to adopt a municipal ordinance of this kind.
The city of 22,000 is north of Boston, about a 40-minute drive along Interstate 93. “We have hilly terrain adjacent to I-93. It’s zoned industrial to accommodate the [wireless] industry’s needs,” Lowitt said.
The town previously had no ordinance specifically for wireless communications sites. Each antenna request was considered a new use and was judged on its merits.
“You would relate it to the old use, which usually was a public utility. But the Telecommunications Act says these uses are not public utilities. That means it’s an unchartered area until you put a regulation in place,” Lowitt said.
Londonderry did just that on Dec. 23. The ordinance does not allow the antennas to be installed in any residential area, not even on existing, permitted towers in residential areas.
“The original recommendation was to allow antennas into residential, but property owners felt it would affect the property value,” Lowitt said.
New antennas only can be installed in areas zoned commercial or industrial. Towers can be no higher than 190 feet, with a minimum eight-foot fence. Antennas are allowed on existing towers only in commercial and industrial zones, and only if the tower height is not increased and no ancillary features are added to the tower. Collocation is preferred, if possible.
Nextel Communications Inc. was able to install a tower in a Londonderry residential area late last spring, while the town planning department was still studying wireless trends.
But by August, Londonderry had drafted and published a proposed ordinance change. So when Sprint Spectrum L.P. sought tower placement in a residential area last fall, its bid was rejected. Sprint is expected to ask for a special use variance in a Jan. 21 hearing, Lowitt said.
“We’re not trying to prohibit anybody. We’re trying to accommodate and get out ahead of the curve. This is what I’d call technology-driven regulation. It has plenty of room to stretch,” he said.
