Council votes to oppose state telecom regulation bill

Local officials say bill would remove control over approvals

NORTH WALES >> Borough council has voted to voice their opposition to a state bill currently up for debate in Harrisburg.

House Bill 1400, a bill setting up new rules and regulations for small wireless cell towers, has caught the eye of local lawmakers.

“It’s limiting municipalities’ ability to regulate the placement and/or features of a small cell tower, in legal right-of-ways,” said Borough Manager Christine Hart.

“There’s lot more to it, but that would essentially affect us the most,” she said.

House Bill 1400 is currently before the house consumer affairs committee, and sets out a series of new rules and regulations regarding small wireless telecommunication facilities. The text of the latest draft of the bill gives wireless providers the right to co-locate wireless facilities within public rights of way, as well as to “replace an existing utility pole or install a new utility pole with attached small wireless facilities.”

Borough Solicitor Greg Gifford said the bill removes layers of approvals that wireless companies are currently required to get at the local level, and said he felt it was essential for the borough to keep that control.

“Everyone agrees, we need more and easier ways to put up cell towers. But you can’t do it at the risk of hurting your municipality,” Gifford said.

“if they don’t have to appear before a municipality for approval, they’ll just do it wherever they want, and it will not have the oversight this bill is, allegedly, trying to provide. It needs to stay local, because the cell towers are local, therefore we need local oversight,” he said.

Hart said, since the future of the bill is uncertain, she and Gifford felt it best for the borough to put their position on the record.

“We don’t know if it’s going to be revisited, but since it still has wheels, we still feel it’s prudent to oppose it,” said Hart.

Mayor Greg D’Angelo said he has seen similar bills brought up for discussion in Harrisburg before, and would not be surprised to see it happen again.

“This is the third time they’ve tried to do something like this. It keeps getting shot down,” he said.

Councilman Sal Amato said it was important for residents to recognize that the bill does make provisions for installing new hardware to upgrade wireless networks to the latest 5G technology, but he took issue with how it does so.

“That’s not the issue. The issue is their use of this bill to try to hone their way into municipalities. That’s what’s wrong,” Amato said.

“Don’t get the two confused: small cell is good stuff. The way they’re trying to implement it is bad stuff,” he said. Council then voted unanimously to approve a motion voicing their opposition to the proposed bill.

Certificates of appropriateness granted: Council also voted to grant certificates of appropriateness for two proposed house repairs in the town’s historic district, and tabled talks on a third.

At 218-220 S. Main St., the owner of a multi-family home has proposed replacing the current gutter system with a new downspout, and removal of the current cornice and woodwork, to match with one made of similar materials and styles, according to Hart.

At 453 Beaver St. the owner has proposed to replace the front porch floor, which had been a wooden material with tongue-ingroove with modern materials. Both were vetted and approved by the borough’s Historic Architecture Review Board, and details of their applications are included in council’s meeting materials packet for June 25.

“I just so appreciate what HARB does, how thorough they are, and how folks that come in front of HARB are cooperative, for the most part. HARB really does a wonderful job,” said councilwoman Wendy McClure.

Council voted unanimously to approve both certificates, and Hart said a third request, from the owner of 118 N. Third St., would be tabled for discussion at a future meeting.

Wastewater plant property transfer approved: Gifford also announced the board has approved a transfer of property of the borough’s former wastewater treatment plant.

“That was formerly the North Wales sewer treatment plant property, and that was signed and approved by the board, and that transfer is being done,” Gifford said.

According to Gifford and Hart, in 2011-12 the boards of North Wales and neighboring Upper Gwynedd agreed to merge the sewer treatment systems of the two, thereby transferring roughly 430,000 gallons per day of sewage from treatment in North Wales to Upper Gwynedd while the township gave the borough roughly $3 million for the plant. Once those connections were made and the flow transferred, the site of the North Wales plant on Shearer Street needed to be decommissioned, disassembled, and re-mediated, with easements secured for Upper Gwynedd’s plant and the North Wales Water Authority to use utility lines running through the property, Gifford said.

“They had to get everything in place, clean everything up, and then convey it back,” he said.

The agreement carries no cost to the borough, according to the solicitor, but documents relating to that process still fall under the real estate category of executive sessions until the settlement is complete, he said.

“Once we go to settlement, it’s officially done, but we had to approve council signing the agreement,” Gifford said.

North Wales Borough Council next meets at 7 p.m. on July 9 at the borough municipal building, 300 School St.