1.1 Title
This bylaw shall be known as the Wireless Telecommunications Facilities Bylaw of the Town of _____________. Wireless telecommunication facilities shall include all wireless telecommunication providers, licensed and/or regulated by the Federal Communications Commission, and associated equipment and buildings.

1.2 Purposes
The purpose of this bylaw is to protect the public health, safety and general welfare of the Town of ________________ while accommodating the communication needs of residents and businesses. This bylaw shall:

A.	Preserve the character and appearance of the Town of ____________ while allowing adequate wireless telecommunications services to be developed.
B.	Protect the scenic, historic, environmental, and natural resources of the Town of ______________.
C.	Provide standards and requirements for the operation, siting, design, appearance, construction, monitoring, modification, and removal of wireless telecommunications facilities and towers.
D.	Minimize tower and antenna proliferation by requiring the sharing of existing communications facilities, towers and sites where possible and appropriate.
E.	Facilitate the provision of telecommunications services to the residences and businesses of the Town of ______________.
F.	Minimize the adverse visual effects of towers and other facilities through careful design and siting standards.
G.	Encourage, through performance standards and incentives, the location of towers and antennas in non-residential areas and away from other sensitive areas such as schools, hospitals and childcare facilities. [Be sure that this is being driven by concerns other than health effects, which would violate the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Some facilities may constitute an attractive nuisance for which such setbacks would be acceptable. - ED.]

1.3 Authority
Pursuant to 24 V.S.A. § 4401 et seq. the [Planning Commission/Zoning Board of Adjustment/Development Review Board] of the Town of _ _______________ is authorized to review, approve, conditionally approve, and deny applications for wireless telecommunications facilities, including sketch, preliminary and final plans, and installation. Pursuant to 24 V.S.A. § 4407, the Board is authorized to hire qualified persons to conduct an independent technical review of applications and to require the applicant to pay for all reasonable costs thereof.

1.4 Consistency With Federal Law
In addition to other findings required by this bylaw, the Board shall find that its decision regarding an application is intended to be consistent with federal law, particularly the Telecommunications Act of 1996. The bylaw does not:

A.	Prohibit or have the effect of prohibiting the provision of personal wireless services;
B.	Unreasonably discriminate among providers of functionally equivalent services; or
C.	Regulate personal wireless services on the basis of the environmental effects of radio frequency emissions to the extent that the regulated services and facilities comply with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations concerning such emissions.

1.5 Definitions
[See Glossary of Terms included with this packet .]

1.6 Permitted and Prohibited Locations
Wireless telecommunications towers or facilities may be permitted as conditional uses upon compliance with the provisions of this bylaw in the following zoning districts:

[Each municipality must decide if they wish to exclude towers from a particular zoning district(s), bearing in mind that such exclusions may not effectively prohibit the provision of service. Towns may also wish to make a distinction between towers and small scale facilities (see Section 1.7) in this regard. If facilities are excluded in a zoning district of considerable size, it may be necessary to adopt language by which an exception may be granted to an applicant, upon sufficient demonstration that such location is the only reasonable means of providing service. - ED.]

Additionally,freestanding telecommunications towers or antennas over 20 feet in elevation may not be located in any of the following locations:

A.	Within ___ ft. of a State or Federally designated wetland.
B.	The habitat of any State listed Rare or Endangered Species.
C.	Within ____ ft. horizontally from any Historic District or property eligible to be listed on the Federal Historic Register.
D.	Closer than ___ ft. horizontally to the boundary of the property on which the tower is located.
E.	Closer than ___ ft .horizontally to any structure existing at the time of the application which is used as either a primary or secondary residence, to the property of any school, or to any other building.
F.	Within ___ ft. horizontally of any river or perennial stream.
G.	Within ___ ft. horizontally of any known archeological site.
H.	Within ___ ft .horizontally of a designated scenic road or highway