NEW YORK-Companion bills to enact the Wireless Facilities Siting Act never made it out of New York State Assembly and Senate committees before the Legislature adjourned Aug. 6 for summer recess.
The proposed legislation, some believe, would have been the first in the nation to set uniform statewide tower-siting requirements for local governments to follow and implement.
The bills would have divided wireless cell sites and towers into two categories. Minor sites, where transceivers would be attached to various existing structures, would have received expedited review, provided they met a set of safety and aesthetic requirements. Major sites on which a carrier wants to construct a new monopole or like structure would have required a more detailed and comprehensive set of standards for the industry to follow.
