Changes to ordinance on small cell wireless

By Dana Casadei

Multiple changes to the small cell wireless communications facilities ordinance were approved by the Bloomfield Township Board of Trustees on Monday, May 13.

Ordinance 695 had four amendments in total, each which will hopefully make it easier for small cell wireless companies to come into the township and set up equipment to help improve cell phone service in the area.

“The intent here was to streamline the process to maintain our control of the extent of what we’re allowed to by law, but also make it a little more effective for the businesses that want to do this work for us in the township to help improve cellular coverage,” said clerk Martin Brook.

The board voted on the changes with little feedback to a contrast presented by township attorney Alana Knox about the ordinance at the board's meeting on Monday, April 28.

At that meeting, multiple trustees discussed how good this would be for the township.

Two of the approved changes were about the size of cell phone poles; allowing for 45 foot poles in residentially zoned areas and 50 foot poles in commercially zoned areas. Knox said that this change came about after receiving feedback from small cell wireless companies that taller poles would allow them to use fewer poles within the township. She also mentioned that had been a lot of applications for poles over 40 feet.

The township board may grant a waiver for the height requirements in residential areas and permit a pole of over 45 feet, or in commercial areas, permit a pole over 50 feet.

Given how many of the small cell wireless companies are repeat customers in the township, the ordinance passed will no longer make them meet again with the township’s small cell wireless committee if they decide to do more work in Bloomfield Township.

New small cell wireless companies will still be required to go through the pre-meeting process.

The fourth amendment to the ordinance regarded the application itself that a company turns in.

Within that application there is a list of items that the applicant needs to turn in, like having the number of wireless facilities that will be deployed or a site plan. Ordinance 695 removed a few of items off of that list. 

Applicants are already demonstrating industry standards with their application, so township engineers felt comfortable removing items such as the need for a company’s demonstration of compliance with ANSI/TIA 222-G-2 standards, which can be found online and are industry wide.

The goal of these removals is not to lower standards, but narrow in on the items that are actually important to the township, and ones that the township can review and have the experience that they know what they’re looking at, officials said.