Town board refers small-cell wireless request to legislative committee; attorney warns limited local control

The Grand Rapids Town Board on July 8 referred a request to place a small wireless facility in the public right-of-way to the legislative committee and asked the committee to develop a fee and permitting structure.

Town attorney Abbs said the state statute governing placement of small wireless facilities largely provides procedural rules and can limit local control. “Our understanding of the statute is that ... the town is required to implement a fee schedule and a permitting process,” Abbs said, adding that because this is the town’s first such request, the town needs to act quickly to set those procedures to preserve input.

Abbs warned that, for an initial request, if the town does not adopt procedures within the statute’s timing thresholds, a carrier could move forward without town input. He recommended identifying alternative, technically feasible locations and presenting those to the requester to require consideration of less obtrusive placements.

Chair moved that the legislative committee be tasked with reviewing the request, proposing any reasonable alternate locations and setting a fee structure; the motion was seconded and passed by voice vote. The chair asked that the work be completed before the end of July to meet the statutory timing and notice considerations discussed by the attorney.

The board did not adopt an ordinance at the July 8 meeting; instead it directed the legislative committee to draft a permit/fee proposal and hold any necessary public hearings before acting.