Time Out

Antonovich Calls For Time Out On Cell Tower Shot Clock - SCV News

“This power grab by the FCC further erodes the land use authority of counties and cities and limits the public’s ability to protect the character of their community by rushing through projects before they are studied and mitigated,” said Antonovich.

“The FCC shot clock is actually an interpretation of the Congressional Act the Telecom Act of ’96, which sets time limits for processing of wireless site applications,” said Jonathan Kramer, Principal Attorney Kramer Telecom Law Firm

“At the request of the wireless industry the FCC stepped in and actually defined what Congress meant by reasonable time to mean 90 days in the case of a collocation, which means there’s an existing site and somebody else wants to get on there, they have 90 days, the local government has 90 days to review the project and come to a determination about it and for new projects it’s 150 days,” said Kramer.

“Aside from the overall idea that now the Feds and the FCC can regulate land use, which has been a local zoning issue — has always been left to the local municipalities –we think that is a big problem,” said [Edel Vizcarra, Antonovich’s Planning Deputy].

“We can base our denial on aesthetic reasons but we can’t base it on health impacts. So if we have a group of community members who are upset because a new cell tower is coming to their neighborhood, you have to figure out a way if you want to deny it, why it’s going to impact the neighborhood visually even if you have concerns with the radio frequencies,” said Vizcarra.