Legal Documents of Sweetwater

The following definitions are strictly intended for the purpose of the wireless communication provisions herein. Where definitions duplicate or conflict with other city code or zoning code definitions, the following definitions shall apply to small wireless communication applications only.

1. "Aesthetic plan" means any publicly available written resolution, regulation, policy, site plan, or approved plat establishing generally applicable aesthetic requirements within the city or designated area within the city. An aesthetic plan may include a provision that limits the plan's application to construction or deployment that occurs after adoption of the aesthetic plan. For purposes of this part, such a limitation is not discriminatory as long as all construction or deployment occurring after adoption, regardless of the entity constructing or deploying is subject to the aesthetic plan.
2. "Administrative review" means ministerial review of an application by the authority relating to the review and issuance of a permit, including review by the appropriate city administration, department of planning, development and tourism, street department and Sweetwater Utility Board staff to determine whether the issuance of a permit is in conformity with the applicable provisions of this chapter and compatible with existing and planned utilities.
3. "Antenna" means communications equipment that transmits and/or receives electromagnetic radio frequency signals used in the provision of wireless services. This definition does not apply to broadcast antennas designed for amateur radio use, or satellite dishes for residential or household purposes.
4. "Applicable codes" means uniform building, fire, safety, electrical, plumbing, or mechanical codes adopted by a recognized national code organization to the extent such codes have been adopted by the authority, including any amendments adopted by the authority, or otherwise are applicable in the jurisdiction.
5. "Applicant" means any person who submits an application under this chapter.
6. "Application" means a written request, on a form provided by the authority, for a permit to deploy or colocate small wireless facilities in the public ROW.
7. "Authority" means the city of or any agency, subdivision or any instrumentality thereof.
8. "Batch application" means applications for multiple facilities submitted simultaneously by a single provider.
9. "City" means the City of Sweetwater or any agency, subdivision or any instrumentality thereof.
10. "Colocate" means to install or mount a small wireless facility in the public ROW on an existing support structure, an existing tower, or on an existing pole/PSS to which a small wireless facility is attached at the time of the application. "Colocation" has a corresponding meaning.
11. "Communications facility" means, collectively, the equipment at a fixed location or locations within the public ROW that enables communications services, including:
    1. radio transceivers, antennas, coaxial fiber-optic or other cabling, power supply (including backup battery), wireless facilities, and comparable equipment, regardless of technological configuration; and
    2. all other equipment associated with any of the foregoing. A communications facility does not include the pole/PSS, tower or support structure to which the equipment is attached.
12. "Communications service" means "cable service" as defined in 47 U.S.C. § 522(6), "broadband service" as defined in 47 U.S.C. § 153(24), or "telecommunications service" as defined in 47 U.S.C. § 153(53).
13. "Communications service provider" means a "cable operator" as defined in 47 U.S.C. § 522(5), a "telecommunications carrier" as defined in 47 U.S.C. § 153(51), a "provider of information service" as defined in 47 U.S.C. § 153(24), a "video service provider" as defined in Tennessee Code Annotated, § 7-59-303, or a wireless provider.
14. "Decorative pole" means a pole that is specially designed and placed for aesthetic purposes.
15. "Discretionary review" means review of an application by the authority relating to the review and issuance of a permit that is other than an administrative review.
16. "Facility height" means the height of a PSS, in combination with associated wireless facility, shall be the vertical distance from the highest point of the wireless facility and its PSS to either: (a) the surface grade at the base of the PSS; or (b) the surface grade of the nearest adjacent street, whichever is higher.
17. "Fee" means a one (1) time, non-recurring charge.
18. "FCC" means the Federal Communications Commission of the United States.
19. "Historic district" means a property or area zoned as a historic district or zone pursuant to Tennessee Code Annotated, § 13-7-404.
20. "Laws" mean, collectively, any and all federal, state, or local law, statute, common law, code, rule, regulation, order or ordinance.
21. "Ordinary maintenance and repair" means inspections, testing and/or repair that maintain functional capacity, aesthetic and structural integrity of a communications facility and/or the associated support structure or pole/PSS, that does not require blocking, damaging or disturbing any portion of the public ROW.
22. "Period light" means a style of lighting fixture designed to replicate the style of light used in the city's downtown historic district while also meeting the city's standards for illumination.
23. "Permit" means a written authorization (in electronic or hard copy format) to install, at a specified location(s) in the public ROW, a communications facility, tower or a pole to support a communications facility.
24. "Permittee" means an applicant that has received a permit under this chapter.
25. "Person" means an individual, corporation, limited liability company, partnership association, trust, or other entity or organization, including a governmental entity.
26. "Pole" means a legally constructed pole, such as a utility, lighting, traffic, or similar pole made of wood, concrete, metal or other material, located or to be located within the public right-of-way. A "pole" does not include a tower and does not include a structure that supports electric transmission lines.
27. "Potential support structure for a small wireless facility" or "PSS" means a pole or other structure used for wireless communications, electric distribution, lighting, traffic control, signage, or a similar function, including poles installed solely for the colocation of a small wireless facility. When "PSS" is modified by the term "new," then "new PSS" means a PSS that does not exist at the time the application is submitted, including, but not limited to, a PSS that will replace an existing pole. The fact that a structure is a PSS does not alone authorize an applicant to colocate on, modify, or replace the PSS until an application is approved and all requirements are satisfied pursuant to this part.
28. "Provider" means a communications service provider or a wireless services provider, and includes any person that owns and/or operates within the public ROW any communications facilities, wireless facilities, poles built for the sole or primary purpose of supporting communications facilities, or towers.
29. "Public right-of-way" or "public ROW" means the area on, below, or above property that has been designated for use as or is used for a public roadway, highway, street, sidewalk, alley or similar purpose, and for purposes of this chapter shall include public utility easements, but only to the extent the authority has the authority to permit use of the area or public utility easement for communications facilities or poles, towers and support structures that support communications facilities. The term does not include a federal interstate highway.
30. "Public utility easement" means, unless otherwise specified or restricted by the terms of the easement, the area on, below, or above a property in which the property owner has dedicated an easement for use by utilities. "Public utility easement" does not include an easement dedicated solely for authority use or where the proposed use by the provider is inconsistent with the terms of any easement granted to the authority.
31. "Replace" or "replacement" means, in connection with an existing pole, support structure, to replace (or the replacement of) same with a new structure, substantially similar in design, size and scale to the existing structure and in conformance with this chapter and any other applicable authority code, in order to address limitations of the existing structure to structurally support colocation of a communications facility.
32. "Small wireless facility" means a wireless facility that meets both of the following qualifications: (a) each antenna could fit within an enclosure of no more than six (6) cubic feet in volume; and (b) all other wireless equipment associated with the antenna, including the provider's preexisting equipment, is cumulatively no more than twenty-eight (28) cubic feet in volume regardless of whether the facility is ground-mounted or pole-mounted. For purposes of this section "other wireless equipment" does not include an electric meter concealment element, telecommunications demarcation box, grounding equipment, power transfer switch, cut-off switch, or a vertical cable run for the connection of power and other services; and "small wireless facility" includes a micro wireless facility.
33. "Staff" means employees of the City of Sweetwater responsible for the administration of requests associated with this chapter.
34. "State" means the State of Tennessee.
35. "Support structure" means a structure in the public ROW to which a wireless facility is attached at the time of the application.
36. "TDOT" means the Tennessee Department of Transportation.
37. "Tower" means an structure in the public ROW built for the sole or primary purpose of supporting a wireless facility. A tower does not include a pole or a support structure.
38. "Wireless facility" means the equipment at a fixed location or locations in the public ROW that enables wireless services. The term does not include:
    1. The support structure, tower or pole on, under, or within which the equipment is located or colocated; or
    2. Coaxial, fiber-optic or other cabling that is between communications facilities or poles or that is otherwise not immediately adjacent to or directly associated with a particular antenna. A small wireless facility is one (1) type of a "wireless facility."
39. "Wireless services" means any wireless services using licensed or unlicensed spectrum, whether at a fixed location or mobile, provided to the public.
40. "Wireless services provider" means a person who provides wireless services. (as added by Ord. #976, Sept. 2019 Ch7_02-07-22)