Arapahoe County to consider wireless-facility review process and $645 fee
The Sept. 8 hearing will consider expedited review for eligible wireless-facility upgrades, but draft materials conflict over whether the decision deadline is 30 or 60 days.
Arapahoe County commissioners are scheduled to consider a new review process for certain wireless-facility upgrades Sept. 8. Staff estimates the county would receive 10 to 15 eligible applications annually.
Case LDC26-002 would amend the county’s Development Application Manual and replace the older Commercial Mobile Radio Service terminology with Wireless Communication Facilities. The proposal would establish a process for Eligible Facility Requests, generally limited modifications to existing towers or base stations under Section 6409 of the federal Spectrum Act.
Staff and the Planning Commission recommend approval. The commission held a public hearing July 7 and voted 6-0 to recommend the amendment. The proposal also would create an application form and determination letter and update requirements for wireless facilities on private property and in public rights-of-way.
Conflicting review deadlines
The county’s Land Development Code and the Federal Communications Commission’s rule for eligible facility requests provide for a 60-day decision period. Under the county code, the Planning Division Manager generally must approve a qualifying request within 60 days of submission unless determining that it is not eligible.
The clock can be tolled when an application is incomplete or by agreement with the applicant. The code gives staff 30 days to notify an applicant that information is missing. If the county does not act within the applicable period, an eligible request can be deemed granted, subject to tolling and notice requirements.
But the draft manual in the hearing packet says a 30-day shot clock begins when an application is received. The draft otherwise describes the process as governed by Section 6409 and federal rules. The packet does not resolve the discrepancy; the 30-day language appears to conflate the decision deadline with the deadline for an incompleteness notice.
Requests that do not qualify as eligible facility requests would follow separate processes. The materials identify 90 days for collocation applications and 150 days for other siting applications under federal shot clocks.
Neighborhood input and fees
Eligible facility requests would be excluded from the county’s neighborhood-meeting requirement. For covered proposals that are not eligible facility requests, applicants must notify property owners and homeowners associations within 500 feet — or a larger area if county staff determines the project’s visual impact warrants it — at least 15 days before the neighborhood meeting.
The county’s wireless-facilities guidance says local notification requirements cannot be used to delay the federal shot clock or deny an eligible Section 6409 application. Staff is to consider comments from required neighborhood meetings when they apply to a project.
The amendment would establish a $645 fee for an eligible-facility determination letter, based on staff’s estimate of four hours of planner work and one hour of planning-technician work. Existing $1,500 fees for other wireless-facility applications would remain unchanged, the updated fee schedule shows.
The county expects about 10 to 15 eligible-facility applications annually and anticipates no significant fiscal impact beyond collecting the fees, according to the staff presentation. A separate board summary says staff had processed about six such applications through May 1, but does not specify the year.
The update is intended to align the manual with the county’s 2025 wireless-facility code changes and federal and state requirements. The Board of County Commissioners agenda lists LDC26-002 as a general-business public-hearing item. The board is scheduled to approve, deny or continue the proposal Sept. 8; the available records do not establish its final action.