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Bonner County schedules workshop after resident warns HB 180 could fast-track small wireless facilities
Summary
A Bonner County resident warned commissioners that Idaho House Bill 180 will shorten local permitting timelines and treat some wireless facilities as utilities, and asked the county to adopt targeted ordinance language. County staff said a public workshop will be scheduled to consider stop-gap and longer-term ordinance changes.
Anne Wilder Chamberlain, a Bonner County resident, warned the Bonner County commissioners that Idaho House Bill 180 would reduce local review time for small wireless facilities and allow the wireless industry to treat those facilities as utilities, potentially sidestepping local hearings.
"The bill which goes into effect on July 1," Chamberlain said, "states that other than the reduction in approval time in subsection 1, nothing in this section limits the authority of a municipality over decisions regarding the placement, construction, and modification of a wireless telecommunication facility." She said local code vagueness leaves the county vulnerable to industry interpretation and urged specific, measurable ordinance language.
Chamberlain told the board Bonner County’s telecommunications ordinance is missing clear…
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