Provisions Applicable Solely to the State as an Authority

  1. Law
  2. Tennessee Code
  3. Public Planning and Housing
  4. Zoning Classifications
  5. Competitive Wireless Broadband Investment, Deployment, and Safety Act of 2018
  6. Provisions Applicable Solely to the State as an Authority

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Notwithstanding any other provision in this part to the contrary, the deployment of small wireless facilities in state ROW is subject to this section, as follows:

  1. In those instances in which an applicant seeks to deploy a small wireless facility or new PSS within a state ROW under the control of the department of transportation or to colocate on state-owned PSSs that are subject to oversight by the department of transportation, an application must be made to the department of transportation;
    1. The department of transportation may charge an applicant an application fee of one hundred dollars ($100) for each application to deploy small wireless facilities in a state ROW up to a maximum of five (5) small wireless facilities. The department may charge an additional fee in the amount of fifty dollars ($50.00) for each additional small wireless facility included in a single application. Beginning on January 1, 2020, and at each five-year interval thereafter, the application fees established in this subdivision (2)(A) shall increase by the amount of ten percent (10%);
    2. The department of transportation shall not require a permit or charge an application fee for routine maintenance or replacement of a small wireless facility in a state ROW unless the maintenance or replacement requires the installation of a new PSS or the replacement of a PSS or the maintenance or replacement activity will require disturbance of the highway pavement or shoulders;
    3. The department of transportation may impose inspection costs in the same manner such costs are imposed with respect to other entities that deploy infrastructure in a state ROW; and
    4. The department of transportation may require the applicant to provide a surety bond in the same manner as a surety bond is required with respect to other entities that deploy infrastructure in a state ROW;
  3. The application shall conform to the department of transportation's generally applicable rules or policies applicable to those entities that the department of transportation permits to deploy infrastructure in a state ROW;
  4. The department of transportation shall endeavor, when feasible in its discretion, to comply with the timetable for review of applications by local authorities set out in § 13-24-409, but the department of transportation shall have discretion to extend the time for review and shall provide notice to the applicant of additional time needed. No application to the department of transportation shall be deemed approved until the application is affirmatively acted upon;
  5. Until the department of transportation promulgates rules for the deployment of small wireless facilities as set forth in subdivision (8), the department of transportation shall accept applications to deploy small wireless facilities in a state ROW and shall consider each application on a case-by-case basis and shall, in its complete discretion, grant or deny such applications;
  6. Nothing in this part precludes the department of transportation from exercising any regulatory power or conducting any action necessary to comply with 23 USC § 131 and § 54-21-116 relating to the regulation of billboards or to satisfy any requirements of federal funding established by state and federal law;
  7. To ensure that this part does not impose new costs significant enough to outweigh the benefits of small wireless facilities, the department of transportation shall not be required to reimburse the costs of relocation of small wireless facilities from a state ROW, notwithstanding any decision the department of transportation may make to exercise its discretionary authority under § 54-5-804 to reimburse other owners of utility facilities for relocation costs arising from a highway construction project;
  8. The department of transportation shall promulgate rules or establish agency policies applicable to deployment of small wireless facilities within state ROW and the colocation of small wireless facilities on state-owned PSS in state ROW, including, but not limited to, the establishment of an annual rate for the colocation of a small wireless facility on state-owned PSS in a state ROW. The rules must be promulgated in accordance with the Uniform Administrative Procedures Act, compiled in title 4, chapter 5; and
  9. Nothing in this part restricts the department of transportation from the management of a state ROW or a state-owned PSS in a state ROW as otherwise established by law.


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