GTE Wireless Inc. said it turned on service ahead of time in Cincinnati last week due, in part, to the existence of clear city zoning regulations.
“I correctly advised [GTE] not to expect the FCC to completely exempt siting of telecommunications from land use regulations,” said Richard Tranter, land use attorney for Thompson, Hine & Flory L.L.P. in Cincinnati.
The Federal Communications Commission has been asked by industry to support the portion of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 that prohibits municipalities from blocking wireless buildouts.
Early in 1996, the City of Cincinnati had heard about the licensing of 30 megahertz blocks of spectrum at 1900 MHz, and expected two new wireless operators. Then the telecom act was passed, and the FCC conducted two more 1900 MHz auctions.
“We decided we better be proactive,” said Steve Kurtz, administrator of Cincinnati’s land use and planning division. After a four-month, intensive process-which the city considers “fast-tracking”-the council made amendments to its zoning laws. The changes were passed July 3.
The city, through its zoning changes, encouraged two things: antennas instead of towers, and collocation.
“We thought that if we made it easier to do antennas, they would. And it’s about as easy and we could make anything,” Kurtz said. And before they could get conditional permission for a tower, carriers had to show they had “done everything they could” to collocate.
Any opposition cellular operators had to collocation was tempered by the realization they would need future permits for their ongoing buildout. Cooperation amongst carriers was requested.
Some 1900 MHz licensees were reluctant, for competitive reasons, to share with city planners precise information about their desired sites. In those instances, Cincinnati city attorneys worked with carrier attorneys to keep the information from becoming public record.
Zoning changes are land use matters that don’t involve market competition, Kurtz stressed. Zoning changes stay with the property, not the owner.
In Cincinnati, monopole towers of any height are allowed in residential areas, as a conditional use. Monopoles less than 200 feet are permitted, without condition, in institutional-residential (University of Cincinnati), suburban low and high density office, urban office and community business.
Any size monopole is permitted in the retail wholesale and general business areas, and manufacturing areas.
The city proposed mono-poles less than 200 feet be permitted in the neighborhood business area, but that suggestion was defeated. That use is conditional.
Antennas less than 20 feet are permitted anywhere. Antennas higher than 20 feet are conditional everywhere.
Lattice towers are not allowed in residential areas or in the downtown development area, but are permitted without condition in the general business area and manufacturing regions. All towers higher than the distance from a residential district are conditional.
GTE has more than 60 sites operating through the rolling hills of Cincinnati, covering the metropolitan area and stretching northwest as far as Hamilton. The current system covers Interstate-25, which encircles the city. The service area was extended south of the Ohio border, across the Ohio River and into northern Kentucky to cover the new international airport in Hebron.
Deployment of the network continues to the north, to eventually cover Dayton by 1998 and the communities between Dayton and Cincinnati.
GTE had to approach at least 20 municipalities to build the system, Tranter said. Some of the smaller communities leaned on the zoning changes made by the City of Cincinnati. Other areas, such as tiny townships with part-time offices, adopted moratoriums until they could develop a strategy.
Site acquisition in the airport region was not as onerous as in other small-town areas because the zoning panel ther had already grappled with significant land use questions related to the airport’s construction, Tranter said.
