Fiscal Note
No fiscal impact.
Title
Support of Local Zoning Authority over Cell Site Deployments and a Call on Congress to Reinstate Such Authority by Reversing Recent FCC Actions.
Body
WHEREAS the City of Madison has long advocated for universal access to reliable, high-speed broadband service, both wireline and wireless, as these services are critical for the delivery of education, economic development, employment, and a variety of essential services necessary for success and progress in the 21st century; and,
WHEREAS the City of Madison believes that the timely deployment of broadband networks will have significant implications for U.S. innovation, including in transportation, agriculture, healthcare, education, public safety, manufacturing, commerce, and the development of smart communities; and
WHEREAS the continued deployment of broadband networks will require increased use of the public rights-of-way (PROW); and,
WHEREAS the City of Madison has, for many years, exercised significant and detailed oversight of the City’s streets and sidewalks as well as the rest of the PROW, for the purposes of: protecting the public’s safety; protecting critical public and private infrastructure located in the PROW such as gas, water, sewer, electric power and telecommunications; enabling efficient transportation and citizen mobility; enhancing the City’s aesthetics, including the compatibility with the surroundings and blockage of view; and protecting the considerable value of the PROW for the benefit of all of the City’s citizens; and,
WHEREAS by means of orders issued on August 2, 2018 and September 26, 2018, the Federal Communications Commission took away much of local government’s ability to specify and manage the timing, costs and entry process, and to balance competing interests for the use of the PROW, and,
WHEREAS Representative Anna Eshoo has introduced H.R. 530, legislation to overturn the FCC’s actions of August 2 and September 26, 2018,
NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the City of Madison thanks Congresswoman Eshoo for her leadership and calls on Congress to enact, and President Trump to sign H.R. 530, or similar legislation to invalidate the recent actions taken by the Federal Communications Commission; and,
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to Representative Mark Pocan and Senators Tammy Baldwin and Ron Johnson with a request on behalf of the City of Madison that they support H.R. 530 or similar legislation.