TO: Honorable Mayor & Members of the North Port Commission
FROM: Peter D. Lear, CPA, CGMA, Interim City Manager
TITLE: Resolution 2017-R-13, Notice of Intent to Adopt Regulations Relating to the Use of the City's Rights-of-Way for Above-Ground Communications Facilities
Recommended Action
Staff recommends approval of Resolution 2017-R-13, providing a notice of intent to adopt regulations relating to the use of the City's rights-of-way for above-ground communications facilities.
Background Information
On July 26, 2016 staff presented Resolution 2016-R-19 to the City of North Port Commission with an intent to adopt regulations for the use of the City's rights-of-way for above-ground communications facilities. The City had received several applications for the placement of new communications towers within the City right-of-way and found that the City's Code of Ordinances does not address these types of technologies.
Since that time, staff has been making progress towards the completion of these regulations, however pending changes in State and Federal law have created a delay in the process. The Florida Senate and House of Representatives recently enrolled the Advanced Wireless Infrastructure Deployment Act, related to local governmental entities' authority to prescribe and enforce rules or regulations for wireless communications facilities in the right-of-way. These changes were sweeping, and include preemptions for collocation of small wireless facilities, strict guidelines for the approval process time frame, stringent regulations for denial of a facility, and limits on the rates and fees a municipality can charge for use of their facilities (see attachments HB 687 and Advanced Wireless Infrastructure Deployment Act Memo). This bill is awaiting signature from the Governor.
The Federal Communications Commission has also been considering a petition for declaratory ruling and possible ways to streamline deployment of small cell infrastructure, and rece...
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