Definitions

  1. Law
  2. Georgia Code
  3. Local Government
  4. Streamlining Wireless Facilities and Antennas
  5. Definitions

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As used in this chapter, the term:

  1. "Administrative review" means review by an authority, including authority staff, of an application to determine whether the issuance of a permit is in conformity with the applicable provisions of this chapter.
  2. "Antenna" means:
    1. Communications equipment that transmits, receives, or transmits and receives electromagnetic radio frequency signals used in the provision of wireless services or other wireless communications; or
    2. Communications equipment similar to equipment described in subparagraph (A) of this paragraph used for the transmission, reception, or transmission and reception of surface waves.

      Such term shall not include television broadcast antennas, antennas designed for amateur radio use, or satellite dishes for residential or household purposes.

  3. "Applicable codes" means uniform building, fire, safety, electrical, plumbing, or mechanical codes adopted by a recognized national code organization to the extent such codes have been adopted by the state or an authority or are otherwise applicable in the jurisdiction in which the application is submitted.
  4. "Applicant" means any person that submits an application.
  5. "Application" means a written request submitted by an applicant to an authority for a permit to:
    1. Collocate a small wireless facility in a right of way; or
    2. Install, modify, or replace a pole or decorative pole in a right of way on which a small wireless facility is or will be collocated.
  6. "Authority" means any county, consolidated government, or municipality or any agency, district, subdivision, or instrumentality thereof. Such term shall not include an electric supplier.
  7. "Authority pole" means a pole owned, managed, or operated by or on behalf of an authority. Such term shall not include poles, support structures, electric transmission structures, or equipment of any type owned by an electric supplier.
  8. "Class I Authority" means any county which has 100,000 parcels or more of real property within the unincorporated area of such county, any consolidated government which has 100,000 parcels or more of real property within the consolidated area, or any municipality which has 100,000 parcels or more of real property within the municipality.
  9. "Class II Authority" means any county which has at least 10,000 parcels but less than 100,000 parcels of real property within the unincorporated area of such county, any consolidated government which has at least 10,000 parcels but less than 100,000 parcels of real property within the consolidated area, or any municipality which has at least 10,000 parcels but less than 100,000 parcels of real property within the municipality.
  10. "Class III Authority" means any county which has less than 10,000 parcels of real property within the unincorporated area of such county, any consolidated government which has less than 10,000 parcels of real property within the consolidated area, or any municipality which has less than 10,000 parcels of real property within the municipality.
  11. "Collocate" or "collocation" means to install, mount, modify, or replace a small wireless facility on or adjacent to a pole, decorative pole, or support structure.
  12. "Communications facility" means the set of equipment and network components, including wires and cables and associated equipment and network components, used by a communications service provider to provide communications services.
  13. "Communications service provider" means a provider of communications services.
  14. "Communications services" means cable service as defined in 47 U.S.C. Section 522(6); telecommunications service as defined in 47 U.S.C. Section 153(53); information service as defined in 47 U.S.C. Section 153(24), as each such term existed on January 1, 2019; or wireless services.
  15. "Consolidated application" means an application for the collocation of multiple small wireless facilities on existing poles or support structures or for the installation, modification, or replacement of multiple poles and the collocation of associated small wireless facilities.
  16. "Decorative pole" means an authority pole that is specially designed and placed for aesthetic purposes.

    (16.1) "Electric supplier" shall have the same meaning as provided in Code Section 46-3-3.

  17. "Eligible facilities request" means an eligible facilities request as set forth in 47 C.F.R. Section 1.40001(b) (3), as it existed on January 1, 2019.
  18. "FCC" means the Federal Communications Commission of the United States.
  19. "Fee" means a one-time, nonrecurring charge based on time and expense.
  20. "Historic district" means:
    1. Any district, site, building, structure, or object included in, or eligible for inclusion in, the National Register of Historic Places maintained by the secretary of the interior of the United States in accordance with Section VI.D.1.a.i-v of the Nationwide Programmatic Agreement codified by 47 C.F.R. Part 1;
    2. Any area designated as a historic district under Article 2 of Chapter 10 of Title 44, the "Georgia Historic Preservation Act"; or
    3. Any area designated as a historic district or property by law prior to April 26, 2019.
  21. "Law" means and includes any and all federal, state, or local laws, statutes, common laws, codes, rules, regulations, orders, or ordinances.
  22. "Metropolitan statistical area" means a standard metropolitan statistical area which is located within this state and recognized by the United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, according to the United States decennial census of 2010 or any future such census.
  23. "Micro wireless facility" means a small wireless facility not larger in dimension than 24 inches in length, 15 inches in width, and 12 inches in height that has an exterior antenna, if any, no longer than 11 inches.
  24. "Permit" means a written authorization, in electronic or hard copy format, required to be issued by an authority to initiate, continue, or complete the collocation of a small wireless facility or the installation, modification, or replacement of a pole or decorative pole upon which a small wireless facility is collocated.
  25. "Person" means an individual, corporation, limited liability company, partnership, association, trust, or other entity or organization, including an authority.
  26. "Pole" means a vertical pole such as a utility, lighting, traffic, or similar pole made of wood, concrete, metal, or other material that is lawfully located or to be located within a right of way, including without limitation a replacement pole and an authority pole. Such term shall not include a support structure, decorative pole, or electric transmission structure.
  27. "Rate" means a recurring charge.
  28. "Reconditioning work" means the activities associated with substantially painting, reconditioning, improving, or repairing authority poles.
  29. "Replace," "replacement," or "replacing" means to replace a pole or decorative pole with a new pole or a new decorative pole, similar in design, size, and scale to the existing pole or decorative pole consistent with 47 C.F.R. 1.40001(b)(7) as it existed on January 1, 2019, in order to address limitations of, or change requirements applicable to, the existing pole to structurally support the collocation of a small wireless facility.
  30. "Replacement work" means the activities associated with replacing an authority pole.
  31. "Right of way" has the same meaning as provided in paragraph (25) of Code Section 32-1-3; provided, however, that such term shall apply only to property or an interest therein that is under the ownership or control of an authority and shall not include property or any interest therein acquired for or devoted to an interstate highway or the public rights, structures, sidewalks, facilities, and appurtenances described in subparagraph (K) or (R) of paragraph (24) of Code Section 32-1-3.
  32. "Small wireless facility" means radio transceivers; surface wave couplers; antennas; coaxial, fiber optic, or other cabling; power supply; backup batteries; and comparable and associated equipment, regardless of technological configuration, at a fixed location or fixed locations that enable communication or surface wave communication between user equipment and a communications network and that meet both of the following qualifications:
    1. Each wireless provider's antenna could fit within an enclosure of no more than six cubic feet in volume; and
    2. All other wireless equipment associated with the facility is cumulatively no more than 28 cubic feet in volume, measured based upon the exterior dimensions of height by width by depth of any enclosure that may be used. The following types of associated ancillary equipment are not included in the calculation of the volume of all other wireless equipment associated with any such facility:
      1. Electric meters;
      2. Concealment elements;
      3. Telecommunications demarcation boxes;
      4. Grounding equipment;
      5. Power transfer switches;
      6. Cut-off switches; and
      7. Vertical cable runs for connection of power and other services.

      Such term shall not include a pole, decorative pole, or support structure on, under, or within which the equipment is located or collocated or to which the equipment is attached and shall not include any wireline backhaul facilities or coaxial, fiber optic, or other cabling that is between small wireless facilities, poles, decorative poles, or support structures or that is not otherwise immediately adjacent to or directly associated with a particular antenna.

  33. "State" means the State of Georgia.
  34. "Support structure" means a building, billboard, water tank, or any other structure to which a small wireless facility is or may be attached. Such term shall not include a decorative pole, electric transmission structure, or pole.
  35. "Wireless infrastructure provider" means any person, including a person authorized to provide telecommunications services in this state, that builds, installs, or operates small wireless facilities, poles, decorative poles, or support structures on which small wireless facilities are or are intended to be used for collocation but that is not a wireless services provider.
  36. "Wireless provider" means a wireless infrastructure provider or a wireless services provider.
  37. "Wireless services" means any services provided to the public using licensed or unlicensed spectrum, including the use of Wi-Fi, whether at a fixed location or mobile.
  38. "Wireless services provider" means a person that provides wireless services.
  39. "Wireline backhaul facility" means an aboveground or underground wireline facility used to transport communications data from a telecommunications demarcation box associated with small wireless facility to a network.

(Code 1981, §36-66C-2, enacted by Ga. L. 2019, p. 236, § 1/SB 66.)

Code Commission notes.

- Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 2019, "April 26, 2019" was substituted for "the effective date of this Code section" at the end of subparagraph (20)(C).

Editor's notes.

- For information as to the effective date of this Code section, see the effective date note at the beginning of this chapter.


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