Unanimous vote on wireless communication facilities ordinance!

Last night our City Council voted unanimously to enact a new ordinance regarding wireless communication facilities. I am very pleased to say that we have jumped on board with hundreds of other communities who have said, "We will have control of where and what you build in our community!" I am not anti-cell towers or anti-cell phones, but I am against blind approval of cell towers. Prior to enacting this ordinance we really had no ordinance. This is not unusual as cell technology has exploded, and so has the proliferation of towers. The dirty little secret is that if your community has no ordinance, you will likely be a magnet for tower speculators, and before you know it, you'll have a few in places they really don't belong. Or a few at heights that are not really necessary and loom over the neighborhood.

I attended the committee of the whole discussion prior to the council meeting. This was a meeting where the planning department would introduce their ordinance and introduce the consultant and allow for questions. Partway through the meeting, one of the councilors said that she had just received an email from PCIA, (from their website: PCIA - The Wireless Infrastructure Association is the principal trade association representing the companies that make up the wireless telecommunications infrastructure industry. Its members include the carriers, infrastructure providers and professional services firms that own and manage more than 125,000 telecommunications facilities throughout the world.) and they want the council to delay action as they would like to have a say in the process. They claimed that this ordinance could violate federal law and that the council should delay it until they could give their side. Mr. Neuman from Center for Municipal Solutions explained that PCIA had sent a standard letter, which they send to nearly every community who is getting ready to enact an ordinance controlling wireless facilities. He stated that in over 700 communities who have put this ordinance in place, they have never had a legal challenge. Luckily when this came up at the council meeting, our Duluth CAO sternly stated that this was not a "stealth ordinance" and that there had been more than sufficient notice to the public. There had been ads published in the paper, it had been published on the City website for weeks, it had been presented for a two readings at City Council and it had gone through public hearing with the Planning Commission. In other words PCIA...tough shit. You came too late to the party. I find it highly arrogant of them to come so late and expect to stop the process. A lot of stakeholders who are Duluthians, worked hard to get some attention paid to this issue. You think you can sail in at the last minute, make veiled threats, and cow us again? Nope..didn't work! Councilors Stauber, Gardner, and Anderson tried to table the ordinance, but that was voted down. The final vote...unanimous passage!

My battle started because AT&T wanted to put a tower in my neighborhood that will directly invade the airspace of a significant and extraordinary migration of millions of songbirds. In attending council meetings I became aware that these "consultants" basically used the same justification for every tower. They have a narrow script. "People need uninterrupted in car coverage along the entire highway.", "911 calls are migrating to towers in Douglas and Lake County which could delay service", "People in the area have to stand by a window to get good reception.", "People have dropped their landlines and need uninterrupted service from all areas in their homes." I'm not saying these aren't all good arguments. What I am saying is that our city leaders needed a way to verify that what the company claims is actually happening. That was not happening in Duluth.

I began to ask, "Is there anyone in our planning department who has expertise in reading RF studies, is there anyone who understands these charts and graphs?" Well, no...no one did. And it's likely that might be the case in your town too. So, this means that the consultants for the cell companies come in and make lots of claims, but there is no one on local government who can verify those claims. The city takes them at their word...we all trust big business, right? (think BP!) This was pretty disgusting to find out. That we are approving towers that impact neighborhoods, probably will violate the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and gee whiz...we don't even know what we're doing!

So, it is gratifying to know that we have an ordinance that addresses migration, views, community notification, liability, annual testing, permitting fees, priorities on where towers can be sited, THIRD PARTY REVIEW! etc, etc. What had been a one page "ordinance" is now over 30 pages! All towers will have to go through a 3rd party review with consultants who can negotiate with the cell companies to make sure that a tower is the only solution for our community. Any tower that needs modification of any type (including adding antenna for co-location) will have to come in for another permit and follow the new ordinance!

So, get involved, in whatever suits you. Don't give up, victory is sweet!

And AT&T, thank you for being so disrespectful to our community, that's really what motivated me to get this passed.

Don't come knocking if you're thinking we're pushovers!

Hey cell companies...guess what, there's a new sheriff in town! The Duluth Planning Commission just unanimously passed one of the best wireless communication ordinances I've ever seen! Click on the title to read what will likely become law in Duluth! BIG thanks go out to the Center for Municipal Solutions for helping to make this happen.