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• CHAPTER SEVEN • C Impact of ~e Act on Local Zoning Power The Act generally preserves local zoning authority over wireless telecommunications facilities (such as cellular towers) as long as zoning requirements are nondiscriminatory, do not have the effect of prohibiting service, and are not based on the health effects of radio frequency emissions. Zoning decisions must, however, be made within a reasonable time, be based on evidence, and be in writing. By August 1996, the FCC will complete a proceeding that could affect local zoning authority over rooftop television antennas and satellite dishes. Interested communities should participate in that FCC proceeding. In the past several years, a host of new wireless communications technologies have been developed. Telecommunications services include paging service, cellular telephone service, and personal communications services ("PCS"). Television service delivery includes direct broadcast satellite ("DBS"). What all of these new wireless technologies have in common is that, to varying degrees, they require either the construction of transmitting equipment (placed on towers) or receiving equipment (such as satellite dishes), or both. As a result, if left unchecked, the growth of these services could result in the sprouting of new radio towers and receivers all over a municipality's landscape -far more than exist under older technologies such as radio telephone service and television broadcast service. Most of these new facilities will be sited in developed areas -such as cities and suburbs -where the potential residential and business customers of these new services are located. 3 Local govemments have long exercised zoning authority over development to ensure that the appearance and integrity of neighborhoods are not marred by the cluttering of unsightly facilities or the intrusion of commercial facilities into residential areas. Like warehouses and smokestacks, placement and location of antenna towers and satellite dishes present zoning issues. The Act contains language specifically protecting local zoning authority to a significant degree. However, at the same time, the Act does place some new federal requirements on local zoning authority over wireless telecommunications facilities, and it leaves the door open for the FCC to consider adopting rules that could limit local zoning authority over DBS receiving dishes and television antennas. Local Zoning Authority over Wireless Telecommunications Facilities The Act addresses the issue of local zoning authority over wireless telecommunications facilities in three steps. It (1) establishes a general principle that local zoning authority is preserved, subject to certain conditions; (2) lists the conditions that local zoning requirements must satisfy; and (3) identifies which disputes will be handled by the courts and which will be handled by the FCC. 27