05-19-1997 Planning Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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FT' ■ i.- GITYof ORONO Municipal Offices Street Address: 2750 Kelley Parkway Orono, MN 55356 Mailinf Address: P.O. Box 66 Crystal Bay. MN 55323 0066 Torn Radio Popham Haik 3300 Piper Jaffray Tower 222 Ninth Street South Minneapolis, Minnesota 55402 Dear Tom: I have enclosed a copy of the city's proposed telecommunications ordinance along with a cover memo that provides background regarding the ordinance, and a policy regarding the use of city facilities for telecommunications antermas. The city's general position regarding personal communications service (PCS) antennas is that they will only be allowed on city structures (water towers) and that they will be p'^ohibited from all other locations. The PCS vendors have indicated the two water towers will not oe adequate to meet the need for antennas, particularly if four or six or eight vendors get into the business, each wanting a set of antennas. The city's water towers can accommodate two to three sets of PCS antennas. The Planning Commission continued action on the ordinance in order to enable the City Attorney to review the ordinance and provide an opinion on several issues related to the ordinance. These issues are as follows: 1.Can the city prohibit privately constructed telecommunications towers in the city by requiring all antennas to be placed on city owned structures. 2.Is the city required to accommodate the antenna needs of an unlimited number of vendors (six to eight versus two to three different vendors). As indicated above, the city's water towers can accommodate two to three sets of PCS antennas. If we need to accommodate more vendors we will need to provide additional towers in the city. 3.Can the city prohibit antennas and towers from its rural residential area even if this would require the vendors to go outside of Orono to provide coverage to a small area of Orono. Telephone (612) 473-7357 • FAX 473-0510