20.13.160 General criteria for issuance of permits.
A. Any applicant for a land use permit (other than a building permit) proposing to install an antenna support structure or mount an antenna on an existing structure shall demonstrate by engineering evidence that:
1. The antenna must be located at the site to satisfy its function in the applicant’s local grid system. The city may require the applicant to provide feasibility studies which demonstrate that locations on existing structures and/or in higher priority locations have been explored and are not feasible or available.
2. The height requested is the minimum height necessary to fulfill the site’s function within the grid system.
B. In addition to standard criteria, the authority granting the permit shall find that:
1. The facility is to be collocated with an existing wireless communications facility; or
2. The facility is to be located on an existing building or structure; or
3. That all reasonable measures to collocate the facility or to locate the facility to an existing building or structure have been considered by the applicant and are not feasible.
C. When antennas are proposed to be located in areas with a “view” special condition in the neighborhood plan the city must find that installation design will minimize impacts on views from adjacent residential properties, public properties and public rights-of-way.
D. When antennas are proposed to be located within the Fairhaven design review district, as identified in Figure 20.25.020(A), they shall generally be considered to be “construction of a structure” or “exterior alteration of a building” and shall be subject to approval of a design review permit in the historic district and historic influence area of the district unless the director determines the installation is not externally visible or is sufficiently incorporated in an authorized feature in such a way as to exempt it from the design review process.
E. The permit may include requirements which:
1. Minimize visual impacts to the greatest extent possible by maximum feasible use of camouflage or screening, including but not limited to fencing, landscaping, strategic placement adjacent to existing buildings or live or simulated vegetation, undergrounding of accessory equipment structures, incorporation of wireless communications support structures, antennas and other appurtenances into the architectural features of existing buildings or structures and by requiring compatibility with key design elements in the surrounding area; for example: use of brick or other material similar to that used in adjacent buildings or structures; incorporation of support structures into compatible architectural features such as flag poles, bell towers or cornices; or use of simulated vegetation to camouflage support structures.
2. Locate wireless communication facilities so as to minimize the visibility of the facility to residentially zoned land and so as to minimize the obstruction of scenic views from residentially zoned land.
3. Require the mounting of the facility on existing buildings or structures, or use of other alternatives with less visual, aesthetic or safety impacts, as an alternative to use of a monopole or lattice tower. [Ord. 2012-08-041 § 6; Ord. 1998-07-057].