DENVER-The city of Denver is close to adopting a new zoning ordinance pertaining to wireless tower and antenna siting.
Denver carriers and the city have been working together since January on crafting a new ordinance, which is set to be filed within a week. Applications for towers and antennas have been frozen until the ordinance is voted on by the Denver City Council.
“There’s been a great deal of dialogue between local government and the industry,” said Dean Smits, head of Denver’s telecommunications office. “We met with the industry task force from all of the respective companies. There has been a great amount of input from them in the process.”
Like other communities, Denver is faced with the prospect of having as many as eight wireless providers. Homeowners have become more vocal with the city council as more towers and antennas have infringed on residential areas.
“The old zoning ordinance did not take into account this new telecommunications industry pertaining to [personal communications services]. It’s a relatively new industry. The number of towers we’re talking about here and their impact and intrusion is unprecedented.”
The proposed ordinance would ban towers and antennas from residential zones and require carriers to construct them 500 feet away from those areas. Under current law, these structures are allowed in residential zones. The new law also would require carriers to position their towers and antennas 1,000 feet away from another tower, a move that makes it necessary for carriers to collocate. Carriers previously could place towers as close as they wanted without any restrictions.
Denver carriers disagree with the city over these two proposals. They argue that several areas in Denver contain business strips and heavy traffic areas that are close to residential areas and make it difficult for operators to place their structures 500 feet away and adequately service those regions.
Gary Reiff, counsel for Western Wireless Corp. and representative for Denver carriers, at a recent Land Use Committee meeting proposed the city allow towers within 250 feet of residential areas.
Locating towers within 1,000 feet of each other will be a problem for PCS carriers, said Reiff. “If you can’t collocate on someone’s monopole, you have to go 1,000 feet away,” he said. “A thousand feet is the absolute max that PCS really can move, and that’s assuming its flat and nothing is blocking the signal.” Because so many objects and towers can block signals in industrial areas, Reiff proposed that the city allow for a 500-foot distance in order to match up tower signals.
Other issues carriers disagree with the city over include the city’s request for information from carriers that identifies tower and antenna sites. The city wants the information to coordinate tower and antenna applications. Carriers perceive the information as proprietary and are afraid competitors may get their hands on the information. The industry also wants Denver to adopt procedures on how exceptions to the ordinance will be handled.
John Koswan, Denver’s zoning program manager, said the city will continue to negotiate with industry until the draft of the ordinance is read at a city council meeting next week. The city is not likely to budge on the setback and separation issue, however. The industry may have to plead its case in front of city council, said Koswan.
AT&T Wireless Services Inc. and AirTouch Communications Inc. are Denver’s incumbent cellular providers. Western Wireless Corp., Sprint Spectrum L.P. and U S West Communications Inc. are expected to launch soon.
