§ 3-201. Purposes.

The purpose of this division is to establish guidelines for the siting of all wireless telecommunication equipment and facilities, microwave towers, common carrier towers, cellular, television and radio telecommunications towers and antennae. The regulations and requirements of this division are adopted for the following specific purposes:

(a)

To provide for the location of communication towers and communication antennas; and to protect residential areas and land uses from potential adverse impacts of communication towers, poles, and antennas by restricting them in accordance with the restrictions of this chapter.

(b)

To minimize adverse visual impacts of communication towers and antennas through careful design, siting, landscape screening, and innovative camouflaging techniques.

(c)

To accommodate the growing need for communication towers and antennas while minimizing the total number of towers within the community necessary to provide adequate personal wireless services to residents.

(d)

To promote and encourage shared use/co-location of existing and new communication towers (i.e., the use of multiple antennae operated by different providers on a single tower) as a primary option rather than construction of additional single-use towers or poles.

(e)

To promote and encourage placement of antennae on existing towers, where such siting options exist, and on buildings, where such siting options exist.

(f)

To implement O.C.G.A. tit. 36, "Local Government, Provisions Applicable to Counties and Municipal Corporations," Chapter 66B, known as the "Mobile Broadband Infrastructure Leads to Development Act," which facilitates the construction, modification or collocation of wireless facilities on existing wireless support structures including the placement of new or additional wireless facilities on existing wireless support structures. Said act establishes the intent to allow previously approved wireless support structures and wireless facilities to be modified or collocations thereto to be accepted without additional zoning or land use review beyond that which is typically required by the local governing authority for the issuance of building or electrical permits.

(g)

To consider public health, safety, and welfare in the siting of new towers, and to avoid potential damage to adjacent properties from tower or pole failure through engineering and careful siting of tower structures.

(h)

To limit the siting of telecommunications facilities and towers where they will have the least adverse impact on the community while still complying with the requirements of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (Public Law No. 104-104, 47 U.S. C. section 332(c)(7)). These intentions are accomplished with restriction of locations and by enacting controls on height, setbacks, screening, color, and materials in order to minimize visibility and promote public safety and welfare. The regulations in this division are reasonably related to the valid public purposes described in this section.

(i)

It is not the intent of the Board of Commissioners of Jackson County to discriminate among providers of functionally equivalent services or to prohibit or have the effect of prohibiting the provision of wireless services in the unincorporated portions of the county. It is also the intent of the board that applications to place, construct, or modify personal wireless service facilities will be acted upon within a reasonable period of time.

(Ord. No. 17-003 , § 1, 10-2-2017)