3.7.550 Eligible Facilities Request for a Modification of an Existing Tower or Base Station.
A. Applicability. An applicant may submit an eligible facilities request for a modification of an existing wireless tower or base station that does not substantially change the physical dimension of such tower or base station that involves:
1. Collocation of new transmission equipment;
2. Removal of transmission equipment; or
3. Replacement of transmission equipment.
For purposes of this subsection, “collocation” means (a) mounting or installing an antenna facility on a preexisting structure, and/or (b) modifying a structure for the purpose of mounting or installing an antenna facility on that structure; provided, that, for purposes of eligible facilities requests, “collocation” means the mounting or installation of transmission equipment on an eligible support structure for the purpose of transmitting and/or receiving radio frequency signals for communications purposes.
B. Type I Process. An eligible facilities request for a modification of an existing tower or base station that does not substantially change the physical dimension of such tower or base station is reviewed pursuant to a Type I process under BDC Chapter 4.1, Development Review and Procedures.
C. The applicant must provide documentation or information to verify whether the request is not a substantial change. A modification substantially changes the physical dimensions of an eligible support structure if it meets any of the following:
1. For towers other than towers in the public rights-of-way, it increases the height of the tower by more than 10 percent or by the height of one additional antenna array with separation from the nearest existing antenna, not to exceed 20 feet, whichever is greater; for other eligible support structures, it increases the height of the structure by more than 10 percent or more than 10 feet, whichever is greater;
a. Changes in height should be measured from the original support structure in cases where deployments are or will be separated horizontally, such as on buildings’ rooftops; in other circumstances, changes in height should be measured from the dimensions of the tower or base station, inclusive of originally approved appurtenances and any modifications that were approved prior to the passage of the Spectrum Act;
2. For towers other than towers in the public rights-of-way, it involves adding an appurtenance to the body of the tower that would protrude from the edge of the tower more than 20 feet, or more than the width of the tower structure at the level of the appurtenance, whichever is greater; for other eligible support structures, it involves adding an appurtenance to the body of the structure that would protrude from the edge of the structure by more than six feet;
3. For any eligible support structure, it involves installation of more than the standard number of new equipment cabinets for the technology involved, but not to exceed four cabinets; or, for towers in the public rights-of-way and base stations, it involves installation of any new equipment cabinets on the ground if there are no preexisting ground cabinets associated with the structure, or else involves installation of ground cabinets that are more than 10 percent larger in height or overall volume than any other ground cabinets associated with the structure;
4. It entails any excavation or deployment outside the current site;
5. It would defeat the concealment elements of the eligible support structure; or
6. It does not comply with the conditions of approval associated with the siting approval of the construction or modification of the eligible support structure or base station equipment; provided, however, that this limitation does not apply to any modification that is noncompliant only in a manner that would not exceed the thresholds identified in subsections (C)(1) through (4) of this section.
D. Approval Criteria. The City may approve an eligible facilities request for a modification of an existing wireless tower or base station upon a determination that the following criterion is met:
1. The eligible facilities request for a modification of an existing tower or base station does not substantially change the physical dimension of such tower or base station.
E. Conditions of Approval. The City may impose any other reasonable condition(s) deemed necessary to achieve compliance with the approval standards, or if compliance with the applicable approval criteria cannot be achieved through the imposition of reasonable conditions, the application must be denied.
F. Time Frame for Review. Within the time limits imposed by State or Federal law, less any time period that may be excluded by State or Federal law, the Review Authority must approve the application unless the Review Authority determines that the application is not covered by this chapter or does not comply with applicable standards. [Ord. NS-2328, 2019]