A pair of county bills aim to increase regulations on the construction of cell towers on the island.
In response to community concerns about telecommunications antennas and towers being constructed near or within their communities, Kohala Councilwoman Cindy Evans will introduce a measure today that will require more material from telecom companies in order to get their building permits approved.
Evans said several Waikoloa Village residents raised concerns about three cell towers planned to be built around town. While federal laws limit the county’s ability to outright halt cell tower development, Evans said she believes setting up more stringent standards is within the council’s authority.
“That’s why this bill has taken so long,” said Evans, who has been developing the measure since December. “We had to do our due diligence and make sure we didn’t include something that would get the bill thrown out.”
The primary changes the bill makes are to the application requirements for cell towers within the county code. Currently, a telecommunications company needs to submit with their permit application a building plan, a land plot of the facility, a statement from the Federal Aviation Administration that the facility would not be a hazard to air travel and a statement from the Federal Communications Commission that the project complies with their own regulations or is somehow exempt.
Under the bill, those requirements would increase significantly. In addition to most of those current requirements, a company would also need to submit: an elevation drawing of the building site, a report by a licensed electrical engineer certifying that the project complies with all relevant standards, electrical drawings of all antennas and equipment, a fire safety plan, a statement from the state Department of Health regarding the project’s compliance with noise standards, documentation proving that the applicant attempted to co-locate the facility with a pre-existing tower, a decommissioning plan, a geotechnical analysis, a maintenance plan, and more.
It’s a significant change, but Evans said it’s needed for smart long-term planning.
“The thing is, 5G is just the beginning,” Evans said. “It’s not going to be 5G forever, it’s going to be 6G or 7G … These towers are going to be there for a long time, and the technology is just going to keep advancing. We have to think long-term about how we regulate these.”
Evans said she will introduce the measure at today’s meeting of the County Council Policy Committee on Planning, Land Use and Development, but will pass the bill to the Windward and Leeward Planning Commissions for further discussion before the committee will take any action on it.
Written testimony submitted in advance of the committee meeting was universally positive, with many residents expressing concerns about the fire risk presented by cell towers. Unusually for a Big Island planning issue, many of the letters were submitted by Maui residents cautioning against a repeat of last year’s disastrous Lahaina wildfire.
“As Lahaina showed us so tragically, electrical fires are especially dangerous and cannot be dealt with until the source is de-energized,” wrote Maui resident Jason Hale. “(The bill) contains a requirement for an emergency power shut-off mechanism on towers and antennas.”
Other testifiers commented that cell towers negatively impact property values in their vicinity, with many submitting a form letter urging that without legislation “big telecom can do whatever they want.”
However, other testifiers cited claims that cellular radiation from towers is harmful to humans, which is a complicated matter. Regardless of the validity of those claims — the World Health Organization has reported that “there is no convincing scientific evidence” that the amount of radiation from a cell tower causes adverse health effects to people on the ground — federal law prohibits local governments from blocking the construction of wireless service facilities based on radiation concerns if the facility meets Federal Communications Commission standards.
By coincidence, Evans’ bill will be discussed around the same time as another cell tower-related measure being drafted by the County Planning Department. While that bill has not yet been completed, its summarized purpose is “to remove the requirement for a use permit to establish telecommunication antennas and towers in certain zoning districts, add application requirements, and amend standards for the establishment of telecommunication antennas and towers.”
Evans said she had intended to develop her measure in tandem with the Planning Department, but that plan fell through when the department’s measure was delayed.
“It will be interesting to see how these two meld together,” Evans said, adding that she suspects the Planning Department’s bill will use language from her own.
The Committee meeting is scheduled to begin today at 11 a.m.
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.