Oh yes. I agree that's usually the case. I'm looking at a town right now where every other town around them either has one or more zones where a telecom structure is a permitted use, or they have it as a conditional use in every zone --or both. But this one town doesn't allow it anywhere. They told me yup, that's right. Apply for a zoning permit, get denied, and then apply for a variance. I can put enclosures in the ROW on county or state highways in that town, but our employees prefer to be able to get out of the weather (babies), and I couldn't locate a ROW space large enough for a building.
I suspect that if our legal department wanted to make a petition with the PUC that we could get the state to override the local zoning, but we're not going to make any friends doing that. That town is in New Jersey. I ran across another one in NY where residential zones allow houses and their accessories, and business and commercial zones have NO uses permitted by right. ANYTHING you want to do in a business zone in that town has to go through the zoning board, which I'm told takes about 3 months --if it's approved on the first pass. I also recently ran across it in a town in Pennsylvania. The only common thread I saw with these three towns is that each of them had an entire chapter in their local ordinance about microcells, and all of them had very similar language in that chapter. It makes me wonder if it's an overcorrection after getting burned by cell phone companies somehow. -Adam ________________________________ From: AF <[email protected]> on behalf of [email protected] <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, May 6, 2026 3:04 PM To: 'AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group' <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [AFMUG] CPNI & Zoning In my experience, telecom shelters are permitted or conditional uses in almost all zoning. Check your county or municipal zoning for allowed and permitted uses. ________________________________ From: AF <[email protected]> on behalf of Adam Moffett <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, May 6, 2026 8:42 AM To: 'AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group' <[email protected]> Subject: [AFMUG] CPNI & Zoning If you're a certified public necessity, does that give you any leverage to push back on local zoning ordinance making it hard to place a POP or CO? I'm talking about either a prefab building from 10x12 to 10x20 in size, or pad mounted enclosures. I've run across a few places where telecom or utility structures are not permitted anywhere without a variance. I'm also looking at one right now where they allow "telephone substations" in industrial zones, but there's only one parcel in the town zoned industrial. I read about zoning petitions with the PUC, but that doesn't seem any easier than a zoning variance. Obviously the first step will be to talk to the municipality --if they want fiber optic service then they ought to help me out here, but it seems odd that we can be certified by the state as a "public necessity" and also get stopped by a local zoning ordinance from placing a 10x12 building. -Adam
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