§ 86-73. Small wireless facilities and support structures.

(a)

General.

(1)

Small wireless facilities and support structures that comply with the requirements of this article maybe installed and located within county public rights-of-way through the right-of-way/easement permitting process. The cost of maintaining such collocated facilities is the responsibility of the permittee.

(2)

A person is not authorized to collocate or attach wireless facilities, including any antenna, micro wireless facility, or small wireless facility, on a privately owned utility pole, a utility pole owned by an electric cooperative or a municipal electric utility, a privately owned wireless support structure, or other private property without the consent of the property owner.

(3)

Approval of the installation, placement, maintenance, or operation of a small wireless facility pursuant to this division does not authorize the provision of any voice, data, or video communications services or the installation, placement, maintenance, or operation of any communications facilities other than small wireless facilities in the right-of-way.

(4)

Collocation of small wireless facilities or micro wireless facilities on a utility pole, unless otherwise permitted bv federal law, is prohibited in the public right-of-way located within a retirement community that:

a.

Is deed restricted as housing for older persons as defined in F.S. § 760.29(4)(b);

b.

Has more than 5,000 residents; and

c.

Has underground utilities for electric transmission or distribution;

d.

This limitation does not apply to the installation, placement, maintenance, or replacement of micro wireless facilities on any existing and duly authorized aerial communications facilities, provided that once aerial facilities are converted to underground facilities, any such collocation or construction shall be only as provided by the county's underground utilities ordinance.

(5)

Collocation of small wireless facilities or micro wireless facilities on a county utility pole or placement of a wireless support structure is prohibited in a location subject to covenants, conditions, restrictions, articles of incorporation, and bylaws of a homeowners' association. This limitation does not apply to the installation, placement, maintenance, or replacement of micro wireless facilities on any existing and duly authorized aerial communications facilities.

(6)

A wireless provider shall, in relation to a small wireless facility or support structure in the public rights-of-way, comply with nondiscriminatory undergrounding requirements that prohibit above-ground structures in public rights-of-way. Any such requirements may be waived by the public works director.

(b)

Standards.

(1)

Height. The height of a small wireless facility is limited to ten feet above the utility pole or wireless support structure upon which the small wireless facility is to be collocated. Unless waived by the county, the height for a new utility pole or wireless support structure is limited to the tallest existing utility pole or wireless support structure as of July 1, 2017, located in the same right-of-way, other than a utility pole or wireless support structure for which a waiver has previously been granted, measured from grade in place within 500 feet of the proposed location. If there is no utility pole or wireless support structure within 500 feet, the height is limited to 50 feet. A structure granted a permit and installed pursuant to this subsection shall comply with state and federal regulations pertaining to airport airspace protections.

(2)

If more than 220 volts are necessary for the operation of the small wireless facility and are utilized in the utility pole or wireless support structure, a sign shall be attached to the utility pole or wireless support structure stating in large, bold, high contrast letters (minimum height of each letter four inches): "HIGH VOLTAGE - DANGER."

(3)

All small wireless facilities and support structures shall have a plaque placed upon it for the purpose of identification (either by the ASR registration number or other identifying information) including the party responsible for the operation and maintenance of the facility or structure. The plaque shall not exceed 0.25 square feet. No other signage, other than a "high voltage - danger sign." if applicable, or any signage required by the FCC, is allowed on a small wireless facility, utility pole or wireless support structure.

(4)

All wiring and fiber shall be concealed within the support structure and all conduit, wiring and fiber shall be buried between structures and/or structures and ground mounted cabinets. All service lines (e.g. electric lines) to the support structure must also be buried unless service lines in the area of the support structure are aerial. In that event, service lines to the utility pole or wireless support structure may also be aerial, except for any service drop crossing a street or right-of-way which would need to be bored and placed under such street or right-of-way.

(5)

New support structures and small wireless facilities shall be designed to blend into the surrounding environment and complement existing streetscape elements through the use of color, camouflaging and architectural treatment. Any equipment mounted to the support structures shall also match the support structure in color and general design. These design standards may be waived by the public works director upon, a showing that the design standards are not reasonably compatible for the particular location of a small wireless facility or that the design standards impose an excessive expense. The waiver shall be granted or denied within 45 days after the date of the request.

(6)

Any proposed new support structure shall be designed and engineered structurally, electrically and in all other respects, to accommodate both the initial small cell facility and one or more additional small wireless facilities.

(7)

Small wireless facilities shall be flush-mounted onto support structures, unless it is demonstrated through RF propagation analysis that flush-mounted antennas will not meet the network objectives of the desired coverage area.

(8)

All small wireless facilities and support structures shall be designed and constructed to conform to all applicable provisions of this article, the Florida Building Code, as amended, the Florida Department of Transportation Manual, as amended.

(9)

All wireless facilities in the public rights-of-way shall comply with current radio frequency emissions standards of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and any other applicable FCC rules.

(10)

All proposed collocations and ancillary equipment shall comply with the ANSI/EIA/TIA-222 (as amended) Code for the county.

(11)

All small wireless facilities and support structures shall be constructed to conform with the requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

(12)

All small wireless facilities, utility poles and wireless support structures shall be designed and constructed to conform to all applicable standards of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) manual as amended.

(13)

All small wireless facilities and support structures must be located to avoid any physical or visual obstruction to pedestrian, bicycle, or vehicular traffic, or to otherwise create safety hazards to pedestrians, bicyclists, or motorists.

(14)

The placement of small wireless facilities on existing support structures in public rights-of-way is encouraged and preferred over the installation of new support structures. An applicant must provide satisfactory evidence to the county that no existing support structures can be reasonably used or replaced for use for the proposed collocation.

(15)

All new support structures must be constructed to permit collocation by other wireless service providers where feasible. The term "where feasible," as it applies to collocation, means that utilization of a support structure by another party would, at the time of such utilization, comply with sound engineering principles, would not materially degrade or impair the support structure's utilization by existing users, would not unduly burden the structural integrity of the support structure, and would, not otherwise materially and adversely impact existing users. Reasonable terms for use of a support structure that may be imposed by the owner include a requirement for reasonable rent or fees, taking into consideration the capitalized cost of the support structure and land, the incremental cost of designing and constructing the support structure so as to accommodate additional users, increases in maintenance expenses relating to the support structure and a fair return on investment, provided such amount is also consistent with rates paid by other providers at comparable support structure sites.

(Ord. No. 2017-015, § 8, 7-11-17)