CITY OF GRAND JUNCTION, COLORADO

 

ORDINANCE NO. 4703

 

 

AN ORDINANCE ADOPTING THE WIRELESS MASTER PLAN

 

AS AN ELEMENT OF THE GRAND JUNCTION COMPREHENSIVE PLAN

AMENDING TITLE 31, COMPREHENSIVE PLAN, OF THE GRAND JUNCTION MUNICIPAL CODE BY ADDING SECTION 31.12 WIRELESS MASTER PLAN

 

Recitals.

 

The City has also commissioned a broadband planning effort in both wireless planning and broadband planning that includes a Wireless Master Plan (Plan). The Plan is the result of a joint planning effort by the City of Grand Junction and Mesa County with the help of CityScape, a company commissioned by the City and County that specializes in wireless infrastructure planning. It builds upon the 2010 Grand Junction Comprehensive Plan adopted by Mesa County and the City of Grand Junction.

 

The planning effort was undertaken in response to the technology goals identified in the Economic Development Plan adopted on May 7, 2014. The contract was signed with CityScape Consultants on May 27, 2015 and work commenced immediately thereafter. The consulting costs are being funded by the Grand Junction Regional Communication Center (GJRCC) and the project team includes representatives from City Planning, Purchasing, Legal and IT, County Planning and IT, the GJRCC, and CityScape Consultants. The public has been invited to participate via four public meetings held on June 30, 2015, August 26, 2015, December 7, 2015 and the latest held on April 5, 2016. All meetings were recorded and made available on the City website for review, along with presentation materials. Several surveys were conducted to determine community preferences for tower types, use of public property, and priorities for the development of new sites. Council updates and Planning Commission updates have occurred regularly throughout the project. A contact list consisting of more than 200 community leaders, businesses, tower builders, cellular service providers, and citizens has been used to disseminate information about the planning process and to invite interested parties to attend the public meetings.

 

The Wireless Master Plan will provide long-term planning for an efficient and capable wireless telecommunication environment in the community, so that existing and new telecommunications infrastructure can be optimally utilized to meet the current and future wireless communication needs of the City’s industry, businesses, residents and visitors while minimizing negative aesthetic impacts so as to preserve the character of the community and its natural surroundings.

 

The City Council finds that it is necessary and beneficial for the health, safety and welfare of the community to adopt this Plan for development of telecommunications facilities in the City in order to:

•  promote the health, safety, and welfare of the public;

•  establish the need for community preferences;

•  establish a community vision for telecommunications facilities including where they could most optimally be placed and preferences for aesthetics;

•  encourage co-location of equipment on existing structures in order to minimize redundant and unnecessary proliferation of new towers, thereby minimizing visual clutter, public safety impacts, and effects upon the natural environment and wildlife;

•  identify the most likely coverage gaps and assist the industry and property owners with locating towers in the most optimal manner;

•  acknowledge the growing need and demand for telecommunications services while recognizing the need to protect the character of the City and its neighborhoods;

•  identify and plan for the availability cellular telephone access for businesses and residents, acknowledging that a growing number of businesses are conducted in whole or in part from on-the-go, and that government participation and emergency services to the general public are enhanced by fast and reliable cellular connectivity;

•  recognize the need for coordination between suppliers and providers of telecommunications services to maximize use of existing facilities and structures;

•  promote concealed technologies and the use of public lands, buildings, and structures as locations for facilities;

 

The Planning Commission is charged with reviewing the Plan and making a recommendation to City Council.

 

The Wireless Master Plan was heard by the Grand Junction Planning Commission in a public hearing jointly with Mesa County Planning Commission on April 26, 2016.

 

NOW THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF GRAND JUNCTION:

 

That the Wireless Plan, in the form of the document attached hereto, and as recommended for adoption by the Grand Junction Planning Commission, is hereby adopted.

 

The full text of this Ordinance, including the text of the Wireless Master Plan, in accordance with paragraph 51 of the Charter of the City of Grand Junction, shall be published in pamphlet form with notice published in accordance with the Charter.

 

INTRODUCED on first reading the 18th day of May, 2016 and ordered published in pamphlet form.

 

PASSED and ADOPTED on second reading the 1st day of June, 2016 and ordered published in pamphlet form.

 

 

 

 

             /s/ Phyllis Norris      

             President of City Council

 

ATTEST:

 

 

 

 

/s/ Stephanie Tuin    

City Clerk            

 

 

 

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