Subject: [NEXTEL-1] FCC Preempts Local Public Safety Communications Ordinance

From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 15 Jul 2003 17:39:59 -0400

FCC Preempts Local Public Safety Communications Ordinance
by Juan Otero
Posted: July 14, 2003

The Federal Communi-cations Commission’s (FCC) Wireless Bureau recently concluded
that federal law preempted parts of an Anne Arundel County, Md., zoning ordinance
that involved radio frequency interference. The county enacted the local ordinance
after exhaustive tests showed that commercial towers were responsible for 61 “dead
spots” in its public safety system, essentially blocking public safety
communications.

“The FCC’s action shows that public safety and homeland security needs of local
governments are being outweighed by the commercial needs of private industry,”
said NLC’s Information Technology Chair Vicki Barnett, councilwoman, Farmington
Hills, Mich. “The bottom line is that at the street level these ongoing
communication glitches have caused an untold number of close calls and at untold
injuries nationwide.”

The preempted law required that before receiving a county zoning certificate,
wireless tower owners must demonstrate that the requested towers did not interfere
with the county’s public safety operations. If interference was shown, the county
would then be allowed to revoke a zoning certificate.

Cingular Wireless challenged those parts of the local ordinance in April, and the
county sought dismissal of the petition, saying the courts — not the FCC — had
exclusive purview over zoning actions that local governments undertook that
involved wireless facilities. The FCC disagreed, granting Cingular’s petition for
a declaratory ruling.

According to the FCC, the provisions of the ordinance that were challenged
regulated radio frequency interference not traditional zoning functions, and were
preempted by federal law.

“At the same time, we remain concerned about interference to the county’s public
safety communications system and we expect that the parties will continue to work
cooperatively to resolve these problems,” in line with previous FCC guidance, the
agency said.

The FCC’s order requires the county, Cingular and Nextel to report to the FCC’s
Commercial Wireless Division between 30 and 90 days on progress of efforts at
mitigating interference to public safety systems.

The reported interference began in 1997 and involved 800 MHz public safety
communications in the county.
The county adopted an ordinance last year that required that before receiving a
zoning certificate, a tower operator had to show that the planned site wouldn’t
degrade or interfere with the county’s public radio systems.

The FCC said: “The Commission and the federal courts have consistently found that
the Commission’s authority in the area of RFI is exclusive and any attempt by
state or local governments to regulate in the area of RFI is preempted.”
FCC critics, moreover, say that the agency, under pressure to wring as many
billions of dollars as possible from auctioning airwaves to commercial carriers,
gives second-class consideration to public-safety agencies that get the spectrum
for free.
The FCC says it balances both interests.

http://www.nlc.org/nlc_org/site/newsroom/nations_cities_weekly/display.cfm?id=ADB34907-4194-4A14-BB34A7B53CF936B4

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Buy Ink Cartridges & Refill Kits for Your HP at Myinks.com
Free shipping on orders $50 or more to the US and Canada.
http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5706&lp=home/hp.asp
http://us.click.yahoo.com/arYXfA/.xWGAA/ySSFAA/61FxlB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/