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The design and development standards set forth in this section apply to all wireless telecommunications facilities no matter where they are located. Wireless telecommunications facilities shall be designed and maintained so as to minimize visual and noise impacts on the surrounding community and shall be planned, designed, located, and erected in accordance with the design and development standards in this section. All telecommunications facilities shall be designed to blend into the surrounding environment to the greatest extent feasible. To this end all the following measures shall be implemented:

A. No Speculative Facilities. A wireless telecommunications facility, wireless telecommunications collocation facility, or a telecommunications tower, which is built on speculation and for which there is no wireless tenant is prohibited within the City.

B. General Guidelines. The applicant shall employ screening and camouflage design techniques in the design and placement of wireless telecommunications facilities in order to ensure that the facility is as visually inconspicuous as possible, to prevent the facility from dominating the surrounding area and to hide the facility from predominant views from surrounding properties, all in a manner that achieves compatibility with the community.

C. Antennas. The applicant shall use the least visible antennas possible to accomplish the coverage objectives. Antenna elements shall be flush mounted, to the extent reasonably feasible. All antenna mounts shall be designed so as not to preclude possible future collocation by the same or other operators or carriers. Antennas shall be situated as to reduce visual impact without compromising their function. Whip antennas need not be screened.

D. Telecommunications towers shall be constructed out of metal or other nonflammable material.

E. Telecommunications towers taller than 35 feet shall be monopoles or guyed/lattice towers except where satisfactory evidence is submitted to the Planning Director or Planning Commission, as appropriate, that a self-supporting tower is required to provide the height and/or capacity necessary for the proposed telecommunications use to minimize the need for screening from adjacent properties, or to reduce the potential for bird strikes.

F. Telecommunications towers shall not exceed 100 feet in height unless the following findings are made by the Planning Commission: that it is not technically feasible to have a tower below this height at the requested location, that alternative locations which would not require a tower height in excess of the standard given above are not available or feasible, that the facility blends with the surrounding existing natural and manmade environment in such a manner as to be effectively unnoticeable; and that the requirements of SMC 17.130.010 through 17.130.230 are met.

G. Satellite dishes other than microwave dishes shall be of mesh construction, except where technical evidence acceptable to the Planning Director or Planning Commission, as appropriate, is submitted showing that this is infeasible.

H. Telecommunications support facilities (i.e., vaults, equipment rooms, utilities, and equipment enclosures) shall be constructed out of nonreflective materials (visible exterior surfaces only).

I. Telecommunications support facilities shall be no taller than one story (15 feet) in height and shall be treated to look like a building or facility typically found in the area.

J. Telecommunications support facilities in areas of high visibility shall where possible be sited below the ridgeline or designed (i.e., placed underground, depressed, or located behind earth berms) or other mitigation measures to minimize their profile.

K. All buildings, poles, towers, antenna supports, antennas, and other components of each telecommunications site shall be initially painted and thereafter repainted as necessary with a “flat” paint, if it is determined by the decision-making body that the native coloring of the facility does not provide adequate blending with the surrounding environment. The color selected shall be one that, in the opinion of the Planning Director or Planning Commission, after receiving a Design Review Board recommendation, as appropriate, will minimize their visibility to the greatest extent feasible. To this end, improvements which will be primarily viewed against soils, trees or grasslands and adjacent structures, when present, shall be painted colors matching these landscapes and structures, while elements which rise above the horizon shall be painted a blue gray that matches the typical sky color at that location.

L. The project description and permit shall include a specific maximum allowable gross cross-sectional area, or silhouette, of the facility. The silhouette shall be measured from the “worst case” elevation perspective.

M. Each wireless telecommunications facility and wireless telecommunications collocation facility shall be designed to be resistant to, and minimize opportunities for, unauthorized access, climbing, vandalism, graffiti and other conditions that would result in hazardous situations, visual blight, or attractive nuisances. The reviewing authority may require the provision of warning signs, fencing, anti-climbing devices, or other techniques to prevent unauthorized access and vandalism when, because of their location or accessibility, a facility has the potential to become an attractive nuisance.

N. At the time of modification of a wireless telecommunications facility, existing equipment shall, to the extent feasible, be replaced with equipment approved for use by Federal law and regulation that reduces visual, noise, and other impacts, including, but not limited to, undergrounding the equipment and replacing larger, more visually intrusive facilities with smaller, less visually intrusive facilities.

O. Telecommunications facility shall not be sited or operated in such a manner that it poses, either by itself or in combination with other such facilities, a potential threat to public health. To that end no telecommunications facility or combination of facilities shall produce at any time power densities in any inhabited area as this term is defined in Chapter 17.08 SMC that exceed the FCC adopted NIER standard for human exposure, as amended from time to time. (Ord. 1123 § 3 (Exh. A § 4), 2019)