22.62.090 Macro facility design and concealment standards

22.62.090 Macro facility design and concealment standards.

All macro facilities shall be constructed and installed according to the following standards:

A. Separation Distance. In all residential and commercial districts, towers shall be separated by a distance equal to or greater than one thousand three hundred twenty linear feet (one-quarter mile), unless the applicant can demonstrate such requirement is infeasible.

B. Setbacks. Macro facilities and associated equipment enclosures shall not be located with any setback areas on private or public property.

Zone	Permitted Height
1. Single-family residential (R4, R7, and R15), multifamily residential (R25)	Towers shall not exceed 85 feet
2. Mixed use (mixed use – general (MG), mixed use – medical (MM))
3. Mixed use – neighborhood (MN)
All other zones	Towers shall not exceed 85 feet, unless collocation is provided for, in which case the facility shall not exceed 100 feet.

D. Towers shall be designed utilizing the narrowest dimensions possible, and in no instance shall it extend further, as measured horizontally, from the centerline of the tower, than a distance of twenty feet.

E. Landscaping. Towers shall be screened using a type I planting buffer with a minimum width of five feet around the compound’s perimeter, in accordance with the requirements contained in MMC 22.46.040(A), Type I Planting – Solid Screen. Trees with significant height and fullness upon maturity may also be used to visually screen a tower from adjacent residences and rights-of-way.

F. Lighting. Except as specifically requested by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and/or the FCC, WCFs shall not be illuminated, except equipment shelters and compounds may use lighting for security reasons as long as the light is shielded downward to remain within the boundaries of the site.

G. Macro Facilities Attached to Buildings. In addition to complying with the other applicable design requirements in this section, macro facilities attached to existing buildings shall conform to the following requirements:

1. Attached antennas may exceed the height limitation by fifteen feet so long as they are affixed to the side of an existing building or mounted on the rooftop of the building and architecturally blend with the building.

2. Buildings that are nonconforming with respect to height may be used, provided the antennas do not exceed a height of fifteen feet above the existing structure. Placement of an antenna on a nonconforming structure shall not be considered to be an expansion of the nonconforming structure.

3. The interruption of architectural lines or horizontal or vertical reveals is discouraged.

4. New architectural features such as columns, pilasters, corbels, or other ornamentation that conceal antennas may be used if they complement the architecture of the existing building.

5. The smallest mounting brackets necessary shall be used, in order to provide the smallest offset from the building.

6. Skirts or shrouds shall be utilized on the sides and bottoms of antennas in order to conceal mounting hardware, create a cleaner appearance, and minimize the visual impact of the antennas. Exposed cabling/wiring is prohibited.

7. If the aesthetic impacts cannot be mitigated by placement and color solutions, the WCF can be required to be screened.

H. Utility Pole Attachments. If proposing to locate on a replacement utility pole, the height of the replacement pole shall not exceed fifteen feet taller than the existing pole, unless an additional height increase is required for vertical separation and such height extension is the minimum extension possible to provide sufficient separation and/or clearance from electrical and wireline facilities.

I. Stealth Concealment Techniques. All macro facilities shall employ concealment techniques in their design, construction, and maintenance and reduce the WCF’s aesthetic impacts to the maximum extent feasible. These designs shall be labeled “stealth concealment techniques” and may include the following:

1. Nonreflective coloring, approved by the director, which blends into the nearby surroundings of the WCF so as to minimize the visual impact of the support structure or antennas.

2. Located in such a manner that, to the extent feasible, existing trees and/or buildings and other structures on the site are used to screen the WCF from view from rights-of-way and residences; provided, however, that all WCF shall be designed in a manner which minimizes the need for removal of existing trees.

3. Designed to resemble an object other than a WCF which is already present in the local environment, such as a tree or a streetlight.

4. Colors or materials that match the underlying support structure.

5. Other examples of concealment techniques include, but are not limited to, the use of innovative site design techniques, existing or new vegetation and landscaping, other surface treatments, alternative antenna configuration and/or selection, utilization of antenna support structures designed to resemble trees, and any other practice which screens the WCF from observation from roadways, residences, and other properties or otherwise has the effect of reducing the aesthetic impacts associated with the WCF.

J. Noise. Macro facilities shall not produce noise in excess of the applicable noise standards regulated by MMC 6.04.055, Public nuisances affecting peace, and Chapter 173-60 WAC, Maximum Environmental Noise Levels, except for in emergency situations requiring the use of a backup generator, where the noise standards may be exceeded on a temporary basis.

K. Collocation. It is the city’s policy to minimize the number of towers and to encourage the collocation of more than one carrier’s macro facility on a single support structure as well as construct and site facilities with a view towards sharing the site and structure with other utilities. All towers that exceed eighty-five feet in height shall be designed to accommodate two or more WCF. Nothing in this section shall prohibit the owner of an existing facility from charging a reasonable fee for collocation of other communication facilities.

L. The director shall consider the cumulative visual effects of macro facilities mounted on existing structures and/or located on a given permitted site in determining whether the additional permits can be granted so as to not adversely affect the visual character of the city.

1. Equipment enclosures shall be the minimum size necessary for its intended purpose. Equipment enclosures shall be located within buildings or placed underground, unless applicant can demonstrate that such placement is technically infeasible. When they cannot be located in buildings or placed underground, equipment enclosures shall be screened. Alternate methods for screening may include the use of building or parapet walls, sight-obscuring fencing and/or landscaping. If landscaping screening is used, the applicant must comply with the type I planting buffer with a minimum width of five feet around the enclosure, in accordance with the requirements contained in MMC 22.46.040(A), Type I Planting – Solid Screen.

2. Ground-mounted equipment in the right-of-way is prohibited, unless such facilities are placed underground, or the applicant can demonstrate that such placement is technically infeasible.

3. Generators located in the right-of-way are prohibited.

4. All equipment shelters, cabinets, or other on-the-ground ancillary equipment shall meet the setback requirements of the zone in which it is located.

N. These design standards are intended to be used solely for the purpose of concealment and siting. Nothing herein shall be interpreted or applied in a manner which dictates the use of a particular technology. When strict application of these requirements would unreasonably impair the function of the technology chosen by the applicant, alternative forms of concealment or deployment may be permitted which provide similar or greater protections of the streetscape. (Ord. 008/2022 § 4 (Exh. B))