Communities throughout the Hoosier State have been racing to meet Monday’s deadline to enact ordinances limiting where small-site 5G wireless communication poles can be placed.
The deadline was imposed as part of Senate Enrolled Act 213 that the Indiana General Assembly passed on April 22.
Senate Enrolled Act 213 is intended to prepare Indiana for the anticipated 2020 rollout of 5G wireless communication, which promises speeds up to 10 times faster than the best available 4G connections today.
For example, a high-definition film that now takes an hour to download using mobile data will take only a few seconds with 5G. However, 5G requires more antennas in more locations to work consistently, similar to existing municipal wi-fi networks operating in South Bend and other Indiana communities.
The primary goal of the legislation is to allow telecommunications companies to install 5G antennas on utility poles and street lights, as they currently can without the need for local approval, as well as expanding the possible installation locations to stoplights and the backside of traffic signs.
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The controversial portion of the measure authorizes telecommunications companies to install new utility poles, if necessary, in areas where electricity and other utilities already are carried above ground, with only limited need for local approval.
Any new pole would have to be installed on a public right-of-way and be no more than 10 feet taller than any nearby pole, or 50-feet tall if there are no other poles within 500 feet.
The legislation allows local governments to prohibit installing new utility poles in areas "designated strictly for underground or buried utilities before May 1, 2017” by ordinance.
Communities across Indiana are rushing to designate their entire municipal territory an underground utility zone, even if it is not, to preserve local control over placement of any 5G utility poles.
“Over 100 communities are trying to limit the placement of these poles,” said Schererville Town Manager Robert Volkmann during Friday evening’s emergency meeting of the Town Council.
“They (the General Assembly) gave us just nine days to respond to this legislation,” Volkmann said. “There is no local input. These towers could go in any right of way. We are not trying to prohibit this, but we can’t have them plopped in front yard of someone’s house.”
On Friday, the Schererville Town Council passed Ordinance #1904 establishing an underground and buried utility district.
These cell towers “could go by the town’s lift station, somewhere they are not obtrusive to our residents,” Volkmann said.
During a special meeting Saturday evening, the Dyer Town Council passed a similar ordinance establishing an underground and buried utilities district.
In establishing this district, Ordinance #2017-03 states that it will be in effect “in all areas of the Town were planned road projects, redevelopment areas and/or economic development areas…including, but not limited to electric, communication or similar and associated services.”
The ordinance provides a mechanism for a waiver to install small-cellular facilities by application to the Dyer Town Council, said Town Attorney William Enslen. Any application by the petitioner would require a public hearing, he said.
Town council members amended the ordinance before adopting it to read that “no tower shall be closer than 100 feet to a single-family or multi-family residential structure.” The ordinance also has a provision for landscaping around any cell tower poles.
“This ordinance is what is being adopted around the state,” said Town Manager Tom DeGiulio. “Carmel started drafting this ordinance. Some of the ordinances even specify the color of the poles.”
State Rep. David Ober, R-Albion, the sponsor of the measure, said enacting a bunch of different local ordinances restricting the rollout of 5G technology could leave those communities behind when it comes to Indiana.
"This is a knee-jerk reaction to the situation in the worst possible way," Ober said.
"What these cities all want is they just want to prohibit it entirely. We're trying to bring a new technology in, that they're afraid of. It's not a big ugly tower; it's a number of antennas that can be attached to buildings, poles and other structures— but not if you pass ordinances like this one."
Ober indicated the General Assembly now almost assuredly will have to come back next year to pre-empt any local ordinances that are rushed through before the May 1 deadline.
Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb still has not decided whether to sign the measure into law. He has until Thursday to approve the proposal, allow it to become law without his signature, or veto it.
The legislation passed the Republican-controlled Senate, 43-7, and the Republican-controlled House, 67-29.
A simple majority, that's 26 votes in the Senate and 51 votes in the House, is all that is needed to override a gubernatorial veto.
Times statehouse reporter Dan Carden contributed to this story.