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Santa Ana City Council <br />August 20, 2018 <br />Page 3 of 5 <br />The Draft Ordinance requires submittal of network plans for additional or <br />anticipated facilities for up to five years, but this is not relevant to an individual <br />application for a right-of-way facility which must be considered on its own merits. Draft <br />Ordinance § 33-236(a)(10). Again, there is no related finding. Projections of future <br />network needs would be entirely speculative due to changing voice and data demand, <br />varying use patterns and new technology. They rarely shed light on the actual <br />deployments of a dynamic wireless network. Instead, the City should consider requiring <br />applicants to provide a list of existing facilities and pending applications. <br />Two submittal requirements appear to involve descriptions of wireline backhaul <br />connections irrelevant to individual wireless facility applications. Draft Ordinance §§ 33- <br />236(a)(15),33 -236(b)(2). Backhaul lines are typically provided by a different company, <br />not the wireless facility permittee, and they are beyond the scope of a single wireless <br />facility permit. Vague references to "deployment outside current site" (a term unique to <br />eligible facilities requests) and "wireline interconnections to other locations" must be <br />stricken. At most, the City can require descriptions of on-site telecommunications <br />interconnect boxes to be installed and owned by the wireless facility permittee, as <br />referenced in Draft Ordinance § 33-236(a)(13)(B)(iii). <br />The FCC limits the information the City can require for eligible facilities requests <br />to that "reasonably related to determining whether the request" qualifies, meaning no <br />substantial change to an existing facility. See 47 C.F.R. § 1.40001(c)(1). The <br />requirements to describe "any deployment outside the public -right-of-way necessary to <br />complete the project" and to provide any prior denied applications are irrelevant to the <br />substantial change criteria for a right-of-way facility. Draft Ordinance §§ 33- <br />236(b)(1)(F), 33-236(b)(3). These requirements exceed the City's authority under FCC <br />rules and must be stricken. <br />Permit Requirements Must Alien with State and Federal Law. <br />For right-of-way facilities, the City should avoid subjective findings and aesthetic <br />standards such as visual compatibility. Draft Ordinance §§ 33-240(c)(2), 33-245(a). In <br />the recent T -Mobile West LLC ruling, a state appeals court upheld standards of San <br />Francisco's right-of-way code that are entirely based on specific objective aesthetic <br />criteria. Review under objective standards is appropriate for the administrative Director <br />approval granted under the Draft Ordinance, whereas this subjective finding may be used <br />to deny facilities that otherwise meet objective standards. We note that, according to <br />staff, design guidelines referenced in the Draft Ordinance have not been drafted. We <br />encourage the Director to develop guidelines that accommodate small cells that provide <br />needed network capacity with minimal impact, typically involving a single cylindrical <br />antenna up to four feet tall plus associated pole -mounted equipment up to nine cubic feet. <br />For new poles and areas with underground utilities, the Draft Ordinance requires <br />applicants to demonstrate that a facility is necessary to avoid a prohibition of service. <br />