100 signatures reached
To: Petaluma City Council
City Council: Get Reputable Expert Review for Petaluma Wireless Ordinance
Petalumans demand our City Council hire a reputable legal expert with 1) a solid track record of protecting municipalities’ rights and 2) no conflict of interest to perform a comprehensive final review of the pending Wireless Ordinance rewrite to ensure Petaluma is protected without compromise, to the full extent of the law.
In addition to reputable legal expert review, Petalumans also demand:
1) Process transparency with regard to the legal expert selected
2) Inclusion in scoping process to set objectives (e.g., power consumption efficiency)
3) Extended timeline, with full comment opportunities due to highly complex technical subject matter (i.e., not typical 3-4 days before Monday City Council meeting)
Why is this important?
Petaluma’s current small cell ordinance is strong. We do not want to lose that. We want to ensure the addition of minor and major wireless facility codes to our ordinance achieves legally water-tight integration per all City IZO codes in order to protect Petaluma from Cell Tower Developers and Telecom Corporations to the fullest extent of the law.
Petalumans object to City Staff hiring the Cell Tower Developer and Telecom Corporation consultancy (Telecom Law Firm) to rewrite our City's Wireless Ordinance due to Telecom Law Firm's:
1) Conflict of interest: their business with Cell Tower Developers and promoted focus on facilitating wireless infrastructure transactions (per their website and industry presentation videos).
2) Reputation of misguiding cities out of their full legal rights, leading to compromised ordinances, cell tower proliferation, and increased lawsuit risk.
3) Misguidance of Petaluma on the Verizon Creamery Wireless Telecom Facility project.
Petalumans want a new Wireless Ordinance that keeps residents safe, one that protects Petaluma without compromise, to the fullest extent of the law.