The five-member FCC unanimously agreed to give local governments 90 days to determine whether to co-locate an antenna on an existing tower and 150 days for new sites, says Fierce Wireless. If there is still no decision, then an applicant has 30 days to take the case to court.
This “shot clock” was designed to speed up the implementation of wireless services. CTIA, on behalf of the wireless industry, has been lobbying for this for some time.
Local governments, concerned about ceding authority to the federal government on property zoning issues, could challenge the new rules in court, notes Reuters.
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said (pdf) that of the 3,300 pending zoning applications for wireless facilities last year, more than 760 had been pending for more than a year and 180 had been pending for more than three years.
The wireless industry says state and local governments have in some cases resisted making decisions on adding more antennas to current towers and putting up new sites due to concerns about how towers would affect property values.
