Commission will review controversial telecommunications ordinance June 16

The Longboat Key Town Commission will review a telecommunications draft ordinance next week that eliminates all references to cellular towers.

“There’s no longer references to towers in this ordinance,” said Planning, Zoning and Building Director Alaina Ray. “Commissioners asked us to address the issue of creating an ordinance that calls for cellular alternatives other than towers, and that’s what we’ve done.”

The commission stated on the record in November that it doesn’t want a tower built on the Key. As a result, all tower references have been struck through and deleted.

Commissioners will review the ordinance on first reading at a special meeting scheduled to start after their 1 p.m. regular workshop June 16.

The ordinance also includes stringent height restrictions for other cellular technologies, noting that such alternatives such as Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS) and small-cell technologies must adhere to the height restrictions for that zoning district, and in no instance can the technologies be higher than 50 feet from the ground.

Antennae placed on buildings can’t be higher than 30 feet above the highest point on the structure.

The ordinance includes pictures of various technologies and adds that wireless facilities are allowed in all zoning districts except for preserve and single-family districts.

Small cells sit on a pole or a building and act as smaller, denser service rings that can expand outward by a few miles. The boxes are smaller in size than DAS systems, which typically sit on buildings or utility bills.

A hierarchy of preferences for telecommunication improvements also deletes a tower as a last resort.

Town Attorney Maggie Mooney-Portale said the ordinace as proposed is legally defensible.

“There are examples of other similar ordinances that have been tested and have held up in court,” Mooney-Portale said.

Saying ‘no’ to cell towers proves wordy
The town’s revised telecommunications ordinance explains why it doesn’t want towers on the Key:

“Laws recognize the town’s authority to regulate the construction of personal wireless service facilities. The town recognizes that wireless facilities play an important and complex role in the community. The intent of this section is to ensure that the placement of wireless facilities is consistent with the town’s land use policies and balances the community’s needs. This section strives to mitigate impacts of wireless facilities and protect the health, safety and welfare of the residents and visitors of the town.”

In Other Action
The Longboat Key Town Commission will review a Comprehensive Plan amendment at its 1 p.m. June 16 regular workshop that was put on hold. The amendment is an ordinance that exempts wireless facility equipment from height limitations within the Comp Plan.

Planning, Zoning and Building Director Alaina Ray will recommend to the commission at the meeting that the ordinance die on second reading.

“If the commission lets the ordinance die, the height limitations and protections for wireless facilities are still available in the Comp Plan,” Ray said.