True: Montgomery County has the authority to regulate both the approval procedure and the setbacks for small wireless facilities to be placed in its ROW and in residential zones.
Factcheck: The failure of this bill will NOT mean that state and federal authorities can now determine locations of small cell sites. That is legally inaccurate. This is something that you can fact check yourself.
The fact that the County did not pass this particular bill absolutely does not mean that the County has lost it's zoning authority. That is simply false.
The Federal Communications Commission has not preempted state and local authority across the country with respect to the siting of small cell facilities. Recently the Commission moved as close to that as possible with its Small Cell order but that still gives counties and states plenty of room to come up with a plan to site them where appropriate using their own procedures and charging their own fees. Even this new rule, which does not preempt local zoning authority, is being challenged by Montgomery County and may not stand in whole or in part.
Furthermore, every year Members of the Maryland state legislature introduce bills pushed forward by the wireless industry to preempt local zoning authority. The State of Maryland is unlikely to strip counties and cities of their zoning authority in this next legislative session. As appropriate, counties and cities are moving forward to craft zoning laws to permit small cell towers to be sited in a manner consistent with community master plans. Montgomery County is among those counties that will likely be doing that in the next year.
The fact that the County did not pass this particular bill absolutely does not mean that the County has lost it's zoning authority.
In short, Montgomery County has the authority to regulate both the approval procedure and the setbacks for small wireless facilities to be placed in its ROW and in residential zones.
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