Windermere, FL is moving forward with an ordinance involving the placement and control of telecommunication towers to push back against recent state legislation, reported the Orange Observer.
The decision comes in response to the state’s controversial legislation passed in July – the Advanced Wireless Infrastructure Deployment Act – which establishes strict limits for denying a telecommunication provider’s application to install a cell tower or add equipment on a utility pole enabling future 5G technology.
Windermere Mayor Gary Bruhn believes the ordinance is necessary to retain some control over telecommunications decisions. “(The ordinance) will just give us more control and let us know exactly what (telecommunication providers) are expecting to do,” Bruhn said. “I think that’s one of the big things — trying to make sure that we have a say in the placement and the way they look.”
Regardless of the parameters of the ordinance, there are some factors that municipalities simply can’t control when it comes to towers, including height restrictions, and placement within a certain radius. “We can’t say no, but we can negotiate,” said Bruhn. “That’s the whole idea of the ordinance — to set standards. And we’re trying to do that, but the bottom line is that the state Legislature has taken away our ability to say no. So that’s why it’s very urgent that we try to at least establish minimum standards that (the providers) should be able to live with and we can live with.”
The ordinance, which passed its first reading in November, will see its final reading/public hearing this week.
December 14, 2017
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