[Durham INC] INC Resolution on Cell Tower Moratorium

[Interneighborhood Council]

*Resolution by the InterNeighborhood Council of Durham on the siting and
approval of cell towers in residential areas:*
Whereas site plans seeking to place Freestanding Wireless Communications
Facilities (cell towers) in residential zones should require local
knowledge and opportunity for citizen input, and

Whereas, Amendment TC1100007 to the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO),
which was adopted by the Council on March 18 and went into effect June 1,
shifted the approval authority for such towers from a board of ten
administrative staff (the Development Review Board) to a single
administrator (the Director of Planning), and

Whereas, Durham is still out of compliance with state statutes that
required local governments to eliminate from their development ordinances
unjustifiable administrative discretionary authority by Jan 1, 2010, and

Whereas, In March and April 2013, INC presented to Council, County
Commissioners and the Joint City County Planning Committee a review of the
UDO, which found that the existing administrative-only approval of
Freestanding Wireless Communication Facilities has no legal base, and that
such discretionary decisions require special use permits which are the
province of quasi-judicial and/or legislative entities, entailing public
notification and hearings, and

Whereas, we appreciate that in response to citizen requests Durham City
Council has committed to revising its regulations for Wireless
Communications Facilities but we are concerned about cell tower site
applications that may surface during that interim, therefore

We request that City Council place a moratorium on approval of cell towers
in residential zones until such time as the city and county elected
officials will have revised the existing wireless communications
regulations in the UDO to alter the present process which allows cell tower
siting in residential zones without resident notification or input.

                                        Adopted by the INC Delegate
Assembly, this 25 day of June, 2013
                                        THE INTERNEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL OF
DURHAM

                                         John Martin
                                         President
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