§ 17.39.040. Design guidelines.

The following general design guidelines shall be considered for regulating the location, design and aesthetics for a proposed personal wireless service facility.

A.

Site Selection Criteria.

1.

Personal wireless service facilities may be located in all zoning districts. An application for a personal wireless service facility located in a residential district must be accompanied with clear and convincing evidence as to why the location within a residential district is necessary.

2.

Preserving the pre-existing character of a site, including but not limited to existing landscaping and topography, must be thoroughly considered when locating and installing a facility on a particular site.

3.

When feasible, facilities must consider existing and future co-locating with other personal wireless service facilities unless it can be demonstrated that the visual effect of co-location due to technological factors would have a greater overall negative visual impact than that of an existing facility. Applicants must affirm that no barriers to co-location for additional personal wireless service facilities will be employed.

B.

Visual Impact and Screening Policies.

1.

Colors and facility designs must be integrated and compatible with existing on-site and surrounding buildings and/or uses in the area. The facility must not dominate surrounding land uses such as in the case of an excessively tall freestanding antenna structure.

2.

Innovative design must be used whenever the screening potential of the site is low. For example, the visual impact of a site may be mitigated by using existing light standards and telephone poles as mounting structures, or by constructing screening structures which are compatible with surrounding architecture.

3.

Antennas mounted on the rooftop or above a structure must be screened (unless screening would be more obtrusive than the antennas themselves), constructed and/or colored to match the structure to which they are attached, thereby reducing visual impact from surrounding uses.

4.

Antennas mounted on the side of a building or structure must be painted to match the color of the building or structure, or the background against which they are most commonly seen.

5.

Electronic equipment cabinets (BTS units) and any other accessory structures must blend with the surrounding building(s) in architectural character and color.

6.

Any required security fencing must be colored and/or designed to blend with the surrounding environment.

(Ord. 587 § 1 (part), 1997)