SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved a plan to repeal and completely replace the county’s ordinances governing wireless communication facilities that allow coverage for cell phones and the internet.
The new rules essentially speed up the permitting process for new wireless communication equipment to be installed in the county, and require only ministerial approval for those to be installed on existing facilities, called collocation.
The county last updated its ordinances in 2003, when wireless communication infrastructure was in its infancy. County officials say that, as written, the former regulations did not allow permit processing to fit within time constraints required by state and federal law.
According to Santa Cruz County Resource Planner David Carlson, the new regulations bring the county up to date with those laws which, among other things, give County officials specific timelines—called “shot clocks”—to approve permits to build wireless facilities.
Specifically, this is 60 days for small wireless facilities, 90 days for collocation and for new facilities and 150 days for larger facilities.
The new ordinance, found at bit.ly/308MzXN, also governs such aspects as height and aesthetics.
Supervisor Manu Koenig asked that, in addition to the new rules, the wireless facilities also have 72-hour battery backup in the event of power outages.
Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board President Jennifer Holm praised the new regulations, saying that the stabbing death of a student at Aptos High school on Aug. 31 highlighted the need for cell coverage in the county’s remote areas.
“Many parents reached out at the board meeting to express how terrifying it was not to be able to reach their children for some time while the campus was on lockdown,” she said.
Santa Cruz County Sheriff Jim Hart agreed.
“Streamlining this process is going to allow infrastructure to be put into place in a timely manner, which is going to improve public safety response and also improve cm’s ability to call in emergencies as they occur, which is severely lacking in rural areas,” he said.
Nobody spoke in opposition to the changes.
