2023 Utah Code › Title 54 - Public Utilities › Chapter 21 - Small Wireless Facilities Deployment Act › Part 1 - General Provisions › Section 103 - Local authority jurisdiction.

Effective 9/1/2018
54-21-103.
Local authority jurisdiction.
(1) Subject to Subsection (2), the provisions of this chapter, and applicable federal law, an authority may continue to exercise zoning, land use, planning, and permitting authority within the authority's territorial boundaries, including with respect to wireless support structures and utility poles.
(2) An authority may exercise the authority's police-power-based regulations for the management of a public right-of-way:
(a) on a nondiscriminatory basis to all users of the right-of-way;
(b) to the extent of the authority's jurisdiction; and
(c) consistent with state and federal law.
(3) An authority may impose a regulation based on the authority's police power in the management of an activity of a wireless provider in a public right-of-way, if:
(a) to the extent the authority enforces the regulation, the authority enforces the regulation on a nondiscriminatory basis; and
(b) the purpose of the regulation is to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the public.
(4) An authority may adopt design standards for the installation and construction of a small wireless facility or utility pole in a public right-of-way that:
(a) are reasonable and nondiscriminatory; and
(b) include additional installation and construction details that do not conflict with this chapter, including a requirement that:
(i) an industry standard pole load analysis be completed and submitted to an authority, indicating that the utility pole, to which the small wireless facility is to be attached, will safely support the load; or
(ii) small wireless facility equipment, on new and existing utility poles, be placed higher than eight feet above ground level.
(5)
(a) A wireless provider shall comply with an authority's design standards described in Subsection (4), if any, in place on the day on which the wireless provider files a permit application in relation to work for which the authority approves the permit application.
(b) An authority's obligations under this chapter may not be tolled or extended pending the adoption or modification of design standards.
(6) A wireless provider may not install a new utility pole in a public right-of-way without the authority's discretionary, nondiscriminatory, and written consent, if the public right-of-way is adjacent to a street or thoroughfare that is:
(a) not more than 60 feet wide, as depicted in the official plat records; and
(b) adjacent to single-family residential lots, other multifamily residences, or undeveloped land that is designated for residential use by zoning or deed restrictions.
(7) Nothing in this chapter authorizes the state or any political subdivision, including an authority, to:
(a) require the deployment of a wireless facility; or
(b) regulate a wireless service.
(8) Except as provided in this chapter or otherwise specifically authorized by state law, an authority may not impose or collect a tax, fee, or charge on a communications service provider authorized to operate in a right-of-way for the provision of communications service over the communications service provider's communications facilities in the right-of-way.
Enacted by Chapter 299, 2018 General Session