Aviation, Local Government Groups Ask FCC to Reject CTIA Tower Petition
The FCC should reject CTIA’s petition to impose deadlines on state and municipality action on celltower and wireless facility siting applications, said the National Association of State Aviation Officials. The NASAO said a revised siting process could harm aviation safety. The Electromagnetic Radiation Policy Institute also urged the FCC to reject CTIA’s petition, as did numerous municipal and state groups. CTIA’s bid has backing from the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), Alltel and a few other wireless industry filers.
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Implementing CTIA’s petition ultimately would limit local and state authorities’ ability to protect air safety, NASAO said. It noted that by CTIA’s count in the past 10 years more than 190,000 wireless facilities have been built nationwide. “Less than four percent of these facilities’ applications are still pending after one year,” NASAO said. “This is a pretty good track record … This raises the question as to the urgency of the crisis.”
The deadlines CTIA seeks are “irrational, unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious, and unconstitutional,” the EMR Policy Institute said. The group said that radiation risks posed by wireless facilities mean there should be more, not less scrutiny paid to siting applications.
CTIA wants special privileges for wireless companies, the city of Wichita and Sedgwick County in Kansas said. “The review process used for wireless communication facilities is the same as the review process for zoning approvals for all other types of land uses,” they said. “The timeframes provided are necessary to: a. comply with the notification requirements of state law, b. develop professional staff analysis and recommendation report; and c. hold public hearings to allow input from affected property owners.”
New York City Councilman Tony Avella urged the FCC to reject the CTIA petition. Congress “addressed concerns over state and local regulation” that would limit public access to telecom services in the Telecom Act, Avella wrote. “Congress also recognized the right of state and local governments to maintain zoning controls within their own communities.”
But ALEC said the idea of specific deadlines for state and local action “embodies a sense of fair play” and gives those seeking collocation or new sites “a clearer understanding of procedural requirements.” Alltel said without deadlines “wireless carriers’ ability to enhance and extend their wireless coverage is being slowed, and in some cases, prevented altogether.”