06.04 Small Wireless Facility Design Guidelines

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Good afternoon, We aze sending you this email because you have an ongoing legal services amangement with our firm. As ma.ny of you know,the laws,rules and regulations associated with the deployment of small cell wireless a.ntennas and related facilities throughout the state and country has been a continually cha.nging playing- field for cities since approximately 2015. The National League of Cities has been involved in this process representing city regulatory issues at a federallevel. We learned yesterday that the playing-field is now once again shifting,and this email is to inform you of the impact and the need for cities to act now if they want to preserve regulatory authority on the appearance/aesthetics of such facilities. Specifically,the most recent change in the playing-field came on December 10,2018 when the � Federal Communications Commission(FCC)denied a petition from the National League of Cities to stay its Declaratorv Rulin�and Third Report and Order(FCC Order)regarding small wireless deployment. This means the order is set to go into effect on Jannary 14,2019. �� Attached is a link to an article from the Lea.gue of Minnesota Cities(LMC),published December 17, ' 2018,which provides some additional explanation and links to associated documentation for your review , and information: https•//www lmc org/pa�e/1/FCCRulingSmallCellUpdate 'Lsp�ssl=true&utm source=Bulletin+Dec.+17+C � ities&utm_campaign=Bulletin+l2%2F17%2F18&utm medium=email i What the FCC Order means for your city is that if you do not have aesthetic standards/guidelines for the deployment of small cell wireless facilities within your city adopted by April 15,2019(180 days after the �� FCC Order was published in the Federal Register),you will be prohibited from imposing such requirements on applicants seeking to deploy such facilities in your city thereafter. Further,the FCC Order takes effect January 14,2019. This means that even if your city intends to establish/adopt aesthetic standards ahead of the April 15,2019 deadline,if you receive an application(s) after January 14 and you do not have standards/guidelines adopted by the time you receive such application(s),you will be unable to impose such standards on the facilities or deployments that are the subject of such application(s)As a result,we are recommending that cities adopt sesthetic standards/�uidelines for their cities bv no later than Januarv 14,2019.(Even if sta.ndards are adopted on a preliminary basis pending review and amendment before the April 15,2019 deadline,such preliminary adoption would preserve important regulatory authority with respect to any applications submitted before the final standards are approved). The aesthetic standards/guidelines you adopt must also be"published"within the above time period so that applicants know and understand such requirements. As a result,to be validly applied,we recommend that you publish the standards/guidelines,once adopted by the city council and utilities commission,to your website with an obvious link thereto and provide a copy of the same to all applicants as part of your application packet. We are currently reviewing this matter for all of our legal services clients. Please let us know as soon as possible if you would like us to provide you assistance in drafting aesthetic standards/guidelines. If you respond to this email that you desire such services,we intend to spread the billing amongst all of our legal services clients desiring such services to reduce the cost for all affected. Whatever you desire to do on this,we need you to communicate with us by no later than December 27,2018 so that we have sufficient