Laserfiche WebLink
a newer technology just starting to be constructed <br /> that uses even smaller "cells" than the traditional <br /> cellular service. It will compete with cellular <br /> telephone service and may become the service of <br /> the future if it provides better quality and <br /> reception, transmits data and offers paging. Since <br /> PCS transmitters cover an even smaller <br /> geographic area than cellular service, more. <br /> transmitters and towers will be needed, and <br /> towers will be placed much closer together. <br /> Specialized mobile radio (SMR) services <br /> typically consist of one or more base station <br /> transmitters and a mobile radio unit in the vehicle <br /> or premises of the user. Communications are <br /> transmitted through the base station by telephone <br /> wires or by low-power radio signals. Users of SMR <br /> include fleet-dispatched taxicabs and delivery <br /> services and "closed system" mobile telephone <br /> users. <br /> Licenses to use specific portions of the airwaves <br />in specific geographic areas for cellular telephone, <br />PCS, and SMR services are issued by the FCC. <br />SMR licenses have been around a long time, <br />cellular licenses were first issued about 15 years <br />ago, and PCS licenses are brand new. The FCC <br />has allocated new licenses to increase the number <br />of service providers. A particular geographic area <br />can now have two cellular providers, six <br />broadband PCS providers, 26 narrow-band PCS <br />providers, and an undetermined number of SMR <br />licensees-- all looking for sites for their facilities. <br /> The provision of the new Act concerning <br />personal wireless communications facilities <br />generally preserves local zoning authority over the <br />siting, construction, modification, and use of these <br />facilities, but requires zoning and related local <br />laws to satisfy new requirements. The provision <br />reads: <br /> <br />Sec. 704 Facilities Siting; Radio <br />Frequency Emission Standards <br /> a) National Wireless Telecommunications <br /> Siting Policy <br /> Section 332 (c) (47 U.S.C. 332 (c)) is <br /> amended by adding at the end the following new <br /> paragraph: <br /> <br />"(7) Prese~ation of Local Zoning Authority. <br />"(A) General Authority <br /> Except as provided in this paragraph, nothing <br /> in this Act shall limit or affect the authority Of a <br /> State or local government or instrumentality <br /> <br />thereof over decisions regarding the placement, <br />construction, and modification of personal <br />wireless service facilities. <br /> <br />" (B )" Limitations <br /> <br /> "(/) The regulation of the placement, <br /> construction, and modification of personal <br /> wireless service facilities by any State or <br /> local government or instrumentality <br /> thereof. <br /> "(I) shall not unreasonably <br /> discriminate among providers of <br /> functionally equivalent services; and <br /> <br />"(II) shall not prohibit or have the <br />effect of prohibiting the provision of <br />personal wireless services. <br /> <br />"(ii) a State or local government or <br />instrumentality thereof shall act on any <br />request for authorization to place, <br />construct, or modify personal wireless <br />service facilities within a reasonable <br />period of time after the request is duly <br />filed with such government or <br />instr, umentality, taking into account the <br />nature and scope of such request. <br /> <br />"(iii). Any decision by a State or local <br />government or instrumentality thereof to <br />deny a request to place, construct, or <br />modify personal wireless service facilities <br />shall be in writing and supported by <br />substantial evidence contained in a <br />written record. <br /> <br />"(iv) No State or local government or <br />instrumentality thereof may regulate the <br />placement, construction, and modification <br />of personal wireless service facilities on <br />the basis of the environmental effects of <br />radio frequency emissions to the extent <br />that such facilities comply with the <br />Commission's regulations concerning such <br />emissions. <br /> <br />"(v) Any person adversely affected by any <br />find action or failure to act by a State or <br />local government or any instrumentaliv:t <br />thereof that is inconsistent with this <br />subparagraph may, within 30 days after <br />'such action or failure to act, commence an <br />aciion in any court of competent jurisdiction. <br /> <br />LOCAL Or~tC~,~L$ C~UIDE TO THE TF. LECOS4S4Ut~tC~nOtX5 ~cr OI· 1996 <br /> <br /> <br />