UPDATE Recently, the California state legislature took a big step toward making it easier for wireless carriers to install wireless equipment in the state’s public rights-of-way. The California State Senate passed the bill 32-1, and it now awaits the signature of California Governor Jerry Brown, reports the Lompoc Record.
That has some municipalities in the Golden State worried that it will lose control of the zoning process of wireless equipment, as the bill would essentially treat wireless infrastructure like a public utility. The bill states “no state or local statute or regulation, or other state or local legal requirement, may prohibit or have the effect of prohibiting the ability of any entity to provide any interstate or intrastate telecommunications service.”
The bill aims to quicken the deployment of small cell technology, which is essential for expanding carriers’ network capacities and offloading data from macro cell sites. That approach—the deployment of small cells—is preferred by one California city, Santa Maria, which recently approved Verizon to install small cell equipment.
That approval came after Verizon applied to construct a cell tower designed as a monopine, which met fierce opposition from the local community. Earlier this year, the wireless carrier reapplied, but this time offering small cell technology as an alternative to the monopine, which the city strongly preferred.
“Staff does support and prefer the utility pole installations because the utility pole itself is already there. The telecom facility might make the utility pole slightly less attractive, but it’s considered far better than a brand new pole being added,” Santa Maria Planning Division Manager Peter Gilli told the Lompoc Record.
June 20, 2017
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