Town of West Boylston, MA - 2.7 Wireless Communiciations Services District

The purpose of this section is to establish a district in which wireless communications services may be provided with minimal harm to the public health, safety and general welfare. Specifically, the Wireless communication Services District has been to:

a.) Protect the general public from hazards associated with wireless communications towers, and

b.) Minimize visual impacts from wireless communications towers on residential districts within West Boylston.

For purposes of this section, "wireless communications services" shall mean the provision of the following types of services: cellular telephone service, personal communications and enhanced specialized mobile radio service. Such services, it is anticipated, will be provided via wireless communications towers, including antennas and accessory structures, if any.

The Wireless communications Services District shall be located on all land owned by the Town of West Boylston and on all land located in business and Industrial Districts. The Wireless communication Services District shall be construed as an overlay district with regard to said locations. All requirements of the underlying zoning district shall remain in full force and effect, except as may be specifically superseded herein.

As part of any application for a permit, applicants shall submit, at a minimum, the information required for site plan approval, as set forth herein at Section 3.6 applicants shall also describe the capacity of the tower, including the number and types of antennas that it can accommodate and the basis for the calculation of capacity, and any accessory structures.

A wireless communications tower (including antennas and accessory structures, if any) may be erected in a Wireless Communications Services District upon the issuance of a special permit by the Planning Board pursuant to Section 3.2E(3) subject to site plan approval, as set forth at Section 3.6, and subject to all of the following conditions:

a.) To the extent feasible, all service providers shall co-locate on a single tower. Towers shall be designed to structurally accommodate the maximum number of foreseeable users (within a ten year period) technically practicable. Horizontal co-location is not permitted. Co-locators must make application for a Special Permit to the Planning Board. All co-locations shall have the same lease term.

b.) New towers shall be considered only upon a finding by the Planning Board that existing or approved towers cannot accommodate the wireless communications equipment planned for the proposed tower.

c.) In no event shall any tower be located closer that two (2) miles to any other such tower.

d.) Tower heights and any appurtenant devises including antennas shall not exceed 100 feet (100') above the existing terrain

e.) A tower shall not be erected nearer to any property line than a distance equal to the vertical height of the tower (inclusive of any appurtenant devices), measured mean finished grade of the lower base.

f.) To the extent feasible, all network interconnections from the communications site shall be via land lines.

g.) Existing on-site vegetation shall be preserved to the maximum extent practicable.

h.) The tower shall minimize, to the extent feasible, adverse visual effects on the environment. The Planning Board may impose reasonable conditions to ensure this result, including painting and lighting standards.

i.) Traffic associated with the tower and accessory facilities and structures shall not adversely affect abutting ways.

j.) Applicants proposing to erect wireless communications towers, accessory facilities and structures on municipally-owned land or structures shall provide evidence of contractual authorization from the Town of West Boylston to conduct wireless communications services in municipally-owned property.

All unused towers or parts thereof or accessory facilities and structures which have not been used for two years shall be dismantled and removed at the owner's expense.

Bonding shall be provided by any applicant prior to the issuance of a Special permit to ensure proper dismantling and removal of the tower from the site.

The following types of wireless communications towers are exempt from this Section 2.7:

a.) Amateur radio towers used in accordance with the terms of any amateur radio service license issued by the Federal Communications Commission, provided that:

Antenna: The surface from which wireless radio signals are sent and received by a personal wireless service facility.

Applicant: A person or entity with an application before the Planning board for a permit for a personal wireless service facility

Array: A set of antennas for one carrier or service that are placed on a mount at a give height Above Ground Level (AGL), and spaced so as to avoid internal interference.

Camouflaged: A personal wireless service facility that is disguised, hidden, part of an existing or proposed structure or placed within an existing or proposed structure is considered "Camouflaged".

Cellular Phone Service: A mobile telephone service operating in the 800 megahertz (Mhz) spectrum.

Co-location: The use of a single mount on the ground by more than one carrier (vertical co-location and/or several mounts on an existing building or structure by more than one carrier

Commercial Mobile Radio Service (CMRS): Pursuant to Section 704 of the Federal Telecommunications Act of 1996, CMRS are any of several technologies using radio signals at various frequencies to send and receive voice, data and video. These are considered "functionally equivalent services" by the Telecommunications Act. (See definition below).

Coverage: The geographic area reached by an individual personal wireless service facility installation.

Cross-polarized (or dual-polarized) antenna: A low mount that has three panels flush mounted or attached very close to the shaft.

Design: The appearance of personal wireless service facilities including their materials, structural strength, color and shape.

Electromagnetic Fields (EMF): EMF are fields of radiation produced by all electromagnetic waves, from gamma rays to radio waves, some of which are harmful.

Radiofrequency radiation (see definition below) produced by wireless facilities is one kind of electromagnetic field.

Enhanced Specialized Mobile Radio (ESMR): Private land mobile radio with telephone services.

Environmental Assessment (EA): An EA is the document required by the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) when a personal wireless service facility is placed in an area which meets certain criteria, and therefore, may be environmentally impacted by or with that personal wireless service facility. The EA must show how any possible impacts can be mitigated.

Equipment Shelter: An enclosed structure, cabinet, shed or box at the base of the mount used to contain batteries and electrical equipment. This equipment is connected to the antenna by cable. Equipment shelters are also called "base transceiver stations" for Personal Communications Systems (PCS).

Fall Zone: The area on the ground within a prescribed radius from the base of a personal wireless service facility. The fall zone is the area within which there is a potential hazard from falling debris or collapsing material.

Functionally Equivalent Services: Cellular, PCS, Enhanced Specialized Mobile Radio and Paging are considered functionally equivalent services.

Guyed Tower: A monopole or lattice tower that is tied to the ground or other surface by diagonal cables.

Lattice Tower: A type of mount that is self-supporting with multiple legs and cross-bracing of structural steel.

Licensed Carrier: A company authorized by the FCC to construct and operate a commercial mobile radio services system.

Location: The area where a personal wireless service facility is located or proposed to be located

Modification: The changing of any portion of a personal wireless service facility from its description in a previously approved special permit. Examples of modification are changes in design or ownership.

Monopole: A type of mount that is self-supporting with a single shaft of wood, steel or concrete and a platform (or racks) for panel antennas arrayed on top.

Mount: The structure or surface upon which antennas are mounted. There are four types of mounts

Omni-directional antenna: Often called a "whip" antenna, a thin rod that beams and receives a signal in all directions.

Panel Antenna: A fiat surface antenna usually deployed in three directional "sectors" (0 degrees to 120 degrees, 120 degrees to 240 degrees and 240 degrees to 360 degrees) and used to concentrate or beam the signal into (or from) that sector only.

PCS (Personal Communications Service): An advanced form of radiotelephone services, capable of transmitting and receiving voice, data, text and video messaging. PCS operates in the 1850-1990 Mhz range.

Personal Wireless Service Facility: Facility for the provision of personal wireless services, as defined by the Telecommunications Act.

Public Utility Facilities: Fixed equipment or installations for electricity, gas, water, or communications services for the public, privately or publicly owned.

Radiofrequency (RF) Engineer: Someone with a background in electrical engineering or microwave engineering who specializes in the study of radio frequencies.

Radiofrequency Radiation (RFR): The emissions from personal wireless service facilities which can, in excessive amounts, be harmful to humans.

Security Barrier: A locked, impenetrable wall, fence or berm that completely seals an area from unauthorized entry or trespass.

Separation: The distance between one carrier's of antennas and another carrier's array.

Siting: The method and form of placement of personal wireless service facilities on specific area of a subject property.

Specialized Mobile Radio (SMR): A group of services serving dispatch and data communication users,

usually over a small geographic area. SMR operates over several frequencies in the 800 to 900 plus Mhz range.

Unlicensed Wireless Services: Commercial mobile services that can operate on public domain frequencies and that, therefore, need no Federal Communications Commission (FCC) license for each personal wireless service facility.

Wireless Communications Tower: A structure (with Antennas, if any) designed to facilitate the following types of service: cellular telephone service, personal communications service, and enhanced specialized mobile radio service.