Not everyone is merry this holiday season. Last week, the Oxford City Council passed a resolution condemning what it sees as AT&T’s attempt to strip local municipalities of the power to regulate small-cell tower deployment, reports The Oxford Patch.
On Wednesday, the Ohio House of Representatives passed Senate Bill 331—derided by the Ohio Municipal League as the “Christmas Tree Bill”—which would limit local municipalities’ authority to regulate small cell deployment.
The Oxford City Council, the night before the bill was passed by the House, passed a resolution that opposes the bill and what it calls AT&T’s “efforts to pursue legislation….eliminating local control for Ohio municipalities.”
“Blanket legislation eliminating local control is not warranted,” the resolution stated, and called the bill and AT&T’s apparent support of it an “end run” on local governments.
Last fall, the Oxford City Council passed a bill that created an approval process for the installation of small cell technology in public rights-of-way. The state-passed law would make the issue subject to the state’s zoning guidelines rather than local municipalities.
Detractors believe the bill, which awaits signage into law by Governor John Kasich, is a violation of the municipal Home Rule principles in the state constitution.
December 14, 2016
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