Cell Towers (4)
APPENDIX E (Land Use Regulations for Madison County, Kentucky)
100.987 Local government may plan for and regulate siting of cellular antenna towers by registering with the Public Service Commission -- Duties of utility or company proposing to construct antenna tower -- Confidentiality of information contained in application to the Public Service Commission -- Powers of planning commission -- Colocation. Regulated by
(1) A planning unit as defined in KRS 100.111 and legislative body or fiscal court that has adopted planning and zoning regulations, except for a county that contains a city of the first class as provided under KRS 278.650, may plan for and regulate the siting of cellular antenna towers in accordance with locally adopted planning or zoning regulations in this chapter by officially registering with the Public Service Commission. The registration shall be in the form of an official resolution adopted by the local planning commission. Nothing in this section shall require a planning unit and legislative body or fiscal court to plan for and regulate the siting of cellular antenna towers.
(2) Every utility or a company that is engaged in the business of providing the required infrastructure to a utility that proposes to construct an antenna tower for cellular telecommunications services or personal communications services within the jurisdiction of a planning unit that has adopted planning and zoning regulations in accordance with this chapter, except for a county that contains a city of the first class as provided under KRS 278.650, and that has officially registered with the Public Service Commission shall:
(a) Submit a copy of the utility's completed uniform application to the planning commission of the affected planning unit to construct an antenna tower for cellular or personal telecommunications services within five (5) days of applying to the Public Service Commission for a certificate of necessity and convenience as required by KRS 278.020(1). The uniform application shall include a grid map that shows the location of all existing cellular antenna towers and that indicates the general position of proposed construction sites for new cellular antenna towers within an area that includes:
1. All of the planning unit's jurisdiction; and
2. A one-half (1/2) mile area outside of the boundaries of the planning unit's jurisdiction, if that area contains either existing or proposed construction sites for cellular antenna towers;
(b) Include in any contract with an owner of property upon which a cellular antenna tower is to be constructed, a provision that specifies, in the case of abandonment, a method that the utility will follow in dismantling and removing a cellular antenna tower including a timetable for removal; and
(c) Comply with any local ordinances concerning land use, subject to the limitations imposed by 47 U.S.C. sec. 332(c), KRS 278.030, 278.040, and 278.280.
(3) Commencing from the time that a utility files a uniform application with the Public Service Commission, all information contained in the uniform application and any updates, except for information that specifically identifies the proposed location of the cellular antenna tower then being reviewed by the applying utility, shall be deemed confidential and proprietary within the meaning of KRS 61.878. The Public Service Commission and the local planning commission shall deny any public request for the inspection of this information, whether submitted under
(4) After receiving the uniform application to construct a cellular antenna tower, the planning commission shall:
(a) Review the uniform application in light of its agreement with the comprehensive plan and locally adopted zoning regulations;
(b) Make its final decision to approve or disapprove the uniform application; and
(c) Advise the utility and the Public Service Commission in writing of its final decision within sixty (60) days commencing from the date that the uniform application is received by the planning commission or within a date certain specified in a written agreement between the local planning commission and the utility. If the planning commission fails to issue a final decision within sixty (60) days and if there is no written agreement between the local planning commission and the utility to a specific date for the planning commission to issue a decision, it is presumed that the local planning commission has approved the utility's uniform application.
(5)
(a) If the planning commission disapproves of the proposed construction, it shall state the reasons for disapproval in its written decision and may make suggestions which, in its opinion, better accomplish the objectives of the comprehensive plan and the locally adopted zoning regulations. No permit for construction of a cellular or personal communications services antenna tower, including any certificate of convenience and necessity required to be issued by the Kentucky Public Service Commission, shall be issued until the planning commission approves the uniform application or the sixty (60) day time period has expired, whichever occurs first. If a planning commission rejects the uniform application to construct an antenna tower, the Public Service Commission may override the decision of the planning commission and issue a certificate of convenience and necessity for construction of the cellular or personal communications services antenna tower, if it determines that there is no acceptable alternate site and that the public convenience and necessity requires the proposed construction.
(b) Any party, other than the applying utility, that is aggrieved by the final action of a planning commission under this section, may intervene in the action to the Public Service Commission, but this appeal shall not automatically postpone action by the Public Service Commission.
(6) The planning commission may require the utility to make a reasonable attempt to co-locate additional transmitting or related equipment on any new or existing towers, if there is available space on the tower and the co-location does not interfere with the structural integrity of the tower and does not require the owner of the tower to make substantial alterations to the tower. A planning commission may provide the location of existing cellular antenna towers on which the commission deems the applying utility can successfully co-locate its transmitting and related equipment. If the local planning commission requires the utility to attempt co-location, the utility shall provide the local planning unit with a statement indicating that the utility has:
(a) Successfully attempted to co-locate on towers designed to host multipleless service providers' facilities or existing structures such as a telecommunications tower or another suitable structure capable of supporting the utility's facilities, and that identifies the location of the tower which the applying utility will co-locate its transmission and related facilities on; or
(b) Unsuccessfully attempted to co-locate on towers designed to host multiplewireless service provider's facilities or existing structures such as a telecommunications tower or another suitable structure capable of supporting the utility's facilities and that:
1. Identifies the location of the towers which the applying utility attempted to co-locate on; and
2. Lists the reasons why the co-location was unsuccessful in each instance.
(7) The local planning commission may deny a uniform application to construct a cellular antenna tower based on a utility's unwillingness to attempt to co-locate additional transmitting or related equipment on any new or existing towers.
(8) In the event of co-location, a utility shall be considered the primary user of the tower, if the utility is the owner of the antenna tower and if no other agreement exists that prescribes an alternate arrangement between the parties for use of the tower. Any other entity that co-locates transmission or related facilities on a cellular antenna tower shall do so in a manner that does not impose additional costs or operating restrictions on the primary user.
Effective: July 15, 1998
History: Created 1998 Ky. Acts ch. 231, sec. 2, effective July 15, 1998.