Two municipal representatives on the
FCC’s Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee say localities’ concerns
were brushed aside as the Commission prepared the small cells siting
streamlining item, to be voted on next week.
Debbi Goldman, the representative for
Communications Workers of America on the BDAC’s Model Code for
Municipalities Working Group, calls
the draft order “inconsistent” with the working group’s recommendations
and an overreach of federal authority,” in a filing this week.
The proposal sets “presumptively reasonable” siting costs at $270 per
year per site, according to Goldman, who adds the working group didn’t
reach a conclusion about fees because “of a lack of agreement.”
“The draft order ignores our work, choosing instead to further the interests of the wireless industry over that of the public,”
Goldman writes. The proposal also limits local aesthetic requirements
and historical review. She also takes issue with this, noting those
standards are set based on local community concerns and have a direct
bearing on a city’s “economic development, historic preservation,
property values, tax levels, and jobs.” Continue Reading
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