Revised by CVRPC
April 2001

Adequate Capacity: Capacity for wireless telephony is considered to be "adequate" if the grade of service ("GOS") is p.05 or better for median teletraffic levels offered during the typical busy hour, as assessed by direct measurement of the facility in question. The GOS shall be determined by the use of standard Erlang B calculations. As call blocking may occur in either the land line or radio portions of a wireless network, Adequate Capacity for this regulation shall apply only to the capacity of the radio components. Where capacity must be determined prior to the installation of the personal wireless services facility in question, Adequate Capacity shall be determined on the basis of a 20% busy hour (20% of all offered traffic occurring within the busiest hour of the day), with total daily traffic based on aggregate estimates of the expected traffic in the coverage area.

Adequate Coverage: Coverage for wireless telephony is "adequate" within that area surrounding a base station where the predicted or measured median field strength of the transmitted signal is such that most of the time, transceivers properly installed and operated will be able to communicate with the base station without objectionable noise (or excessive bit-error-rate for digital) and without calls being dropped. In the case of cellular communications in a rural environment, this would be a signal strength of at least -90 dBm. It is acceptable for there to be holes within the area of adequate coverage as long as the signal regains its strength further away from the base station. The outer boundary of the area of adequate coverage, however, is that location past which the signal does not regain.

Affiliate: When used in relation to an operator, another person who directly or indirectly owns or controls, is owned or controlled by, or is under common ownership or common control with the operator, or an operator's principal partners, shareholders, or owners of some other ownership interest. When used in relation to the municipality, any agency, board, authority or political subdivision affiliated with the municipality or other person in which the municipality has legal or financial interest.

Alternative Design Tower Structure: Artificial trees, clock towers, bell steeples, light poles, silos and similar alternative-design mounting structures that camouflage or conceal the presence of antennas or towers (see also Stealth Facility).

Antenna: A device for transmitting and/or receiving electromagnetic waves, which is attached to a tower or other structure.

Antenna Height: The vertical distance measured from the base of the antenna support structure at grade to the highest point of the structure. If the support structure is on a sloped grade, then the average between the highest and lowest grades shall be used in calculating the antenna height.

Antenna Support Structure: Any pole, telescoping mast, tower tripod, or any other structure which supports a device used in the transmitting and/or receiving of electromagnetic waves.

Applicant: A person who applies for a telecommunications facility siting. An applicant can be the telecommunications service provider or the owner of the property.

Available Space: The space on a tower or structure to which antennas of a telecommunications provider are both structurally able and electromagnetically able to be attached.

Base Station: The primary sending and receiving site in a telecommunications facility network. More than one base station and/or more than one variety of telecommunications provider can be located on a single tower or structure.

Bulletin 65: Published by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Office of Engineering and Technology specifying radio frequency radiation levels and methods to determine compliance.

Cell Site: A tract or parcel of land that contains a cellular communication antenna, its support structure, accessory building(s), and parking, and may include others uses associated with and ancillary to cellular communications transmission.

Cellular Service: A telecommunications service that permits customers to use wireless, mobile telephones to connect, via low-power radio transmission sites called cell sites, either to the public switched network or to other mobile cellular phones.

Cellular Telecommunications: A commercial Low Power Mobile Radio Service bandwidth licensed by the FCC to providers in a specific geographical area in which the radio frequency spectrum is divided into discrete channels which are assigned in groups to geographic cells within a service area and which are capable of being reused in different cells within the service area.

Cellular Telecommunications Facility: Consists of the equipment and structures at a particular site involved in receiving telecommunication or radio signals from mobile radio communications sources and transmitting those signals to a central switching computer which connects the mobile unit with the land-based telephone lines.

Channel: The segment of the radiation spectrum to or from an antenna which carries one signal. An antenna may radiate on many channels simultaneously.

Collocation: Locating wireless communications equipment from more than one provider on a single site.

Common Carrier: An entity licensed by the FCC or a state agency to supply local and/or long distance telecommunications services to the general public at established and stated rates.

Communication Equipment Shelter: A structure located at a base station designed principally to enclose equipment used in connection with telecommunications transmissions.

Communication Tower: A guyed, monopole, or self-supporting tower, constructed as a free standing structure or in association with a building, other permanent structure or equipment, containing one or more antennas intended for transmitting and/or receiving television, M/FM radio, digital, microwave, cellular, telephone, or similar forms of electronic communication.

Communications Facility: A land facility supporting antennas and/or microwave dishes that sends and/or receives radio frequency signals. Communications facilities may include structures, towers or accessory buildings.

dBm: Unit of measure of the power level of a signal expressed in decibels above 1 milliwatt.

Directional Antenna: An antenna or array of antennas designed to concentrate a radio signal in a particular area.

Dish Antenna: A dish-like antenna used to link communications sites together by wireless transmission of voice or data. Also called microwave antenna or microwave dish antenna.

Facility Site: A property, or any part thereof, which is owned or leased by one or more telecommunications facility(s) and where required landscaping is located.

FCC: Federal Communications Commission. The government agency responsible for regulating telecommunications in the United States.

Frequency: The number of cycles completed each second by an electromagnetic wave measured in hertz (Hz).

GHz: Gigahertz. One billion hertz

Hertz: (Hz) One hertz is the frequency of an electric or magnetic field which reverses polarity once each second, or one cycle per second.

Location: References to site location shall be the exact longitude and latitude, to the nearest tenth of a second. Bearing or orientation should be referenced to true North.

MHz: Megahertz, or one million hertz.

Micro-Cell: A low power mobile radio service telecommunications facility used to provide increased capacity in high call-demand areas or to improve coverage in areas of weak coverage.

Microwave Antenna: A dish-like antenna manufactured in many sizes and shapes used to link communication sites together by wireless transmission of voice or data.

Monitoring: The measurement, by the use of instruments in the field, of non-ionizing radiation radiofrequency exposure from telecommunications facilities, towers, antennas or repeaters.

Monopole: A single self-supporting vertical pole with no guy wire anchors, usually consisting of a galvanized or other unpainted metal or a wooden pole with below grade foundations.

Omnidirectional Antenna: An antenna that is equally effective in all directions and whose size varies with the frequency and gain for which it is designed.

Permit: Embodies the rights and obligations extended by the municipality to an operator to own, construct, maintain, and operate its facility within the boundaries of the municipality.

Personal Communications Services or PCS: Digital wireless telephone technology using higher frequency spectrum than cellular.

Personal Wireless Services: Commercial mobile services, unlicensed wireless exchange access services. These services include: cellular services, personal communications services, specialized mobile radio services, and paging services.

Preexisting Towers and Antennas: Any tower or antenna for which a permit has been issued prior to the effective date of these regulations.

Radiated-Signal Propagation Studies or Coverage Plots: Computer generated estimates of the signal emanating, and prediction of coverage, from antennas or repeaters sited on a specific tower or structure. The height above ground, power input and output, frequency output, type of antenna, antenna gain, topography of the site and its surroundings are all taken into account to create these simulations. They are the primary tools for determining a need and whether the telecommunications equipment will provide adequate coverage for that site.

Repeater: A small receiver/relay transmitter and antenna of relatively low power output designed to provide service to areas which are not able to receive adequate coverage directly from a base or primary station.

Roof and/or Building Mount Facility: A facility in which antennas are mounted to an existing structure on the roof (including rooftop appurtenances) or a building face.

Scenic View: A scenic view is a wide angle or panoramic field of sight and may include natural and/or manmade structures and activities. A scenic view may be from a stationary viewpoint or be seen as one travels along a roadway, waterway, or path. A view may be to a far away object, such as a mountain, or a nearby object.

Self-Supporting Tower: A communications tower that is constructed without guy wires.

Spectrum: Relating to any transmissions or reception of electromagnetic waves.

Stealth Facility: Any communications facility which is designed to blend into the surrounding environment. Examples of stealth facilities may include architecturally screened roof-mounted antennas, building-mounted antennas painted to match the existing structure, antennas integrated into architectural elements, antenna structures designed to look like light poles, and structures designed to resemble natural features such as trees or rock outcroppings. (See also Alternative Design Tower Structure.)

Structurally Able: The determination that a tower or structure is capable of carrying the load imposed by the proposed new antenna(s) under all reasonable predictable conditions as determined by professional structural engineering analysis.

System: The communications transmission system operated by a telecommunications service provider in the municipality or region.

Telecommunications Facility: All equipment (including repeaters) and locations of equipment with which a telecommunications provider transmits and receives the waves which carry their services. This facility may be sited on one or more towers or structure(s) owned and permitted by the provider or another owner or entity.

Telecommunications Provider: An entity licensed by the FCC to provide telecommunications services to individuals or institutions.

Temporary Wireless Communication Facility: Any tower, pole, antenna, etc., designed for use while a permanent wireless facility is under construction, or for a special event or conference

Tower: A vertical structure for antenna(s) that provide telecommunications services.

View Corridor: A three dimensional area extending out from a viewpoint. The width of the view corridor depends on the focus of the view. The focus of the view may be a single object, such as a mountain, which would result in a narrow corridor, or a group of objects, such as a downtown skyline, which would result in a wide corridor. Panoramic views have very wide corridors and may include a 360-degree perspective. Although the view corridor extends from the viewpoint to the focus of the view, the mapped portion of the corridor extends from the viewpoint and is based on the area where base zone heights must be limited in order to protect the view.

Whip Antenna: A vertical antenna that normally transmits signals in 360 degrees. Whip antennas are typically cylindrical in shape, narrow (less than 6 inches in diameter) and long (often measure 18 inches in height or more.