RSA 12-K:2 · Definitions

12-K:2 Definitions. – In this chapter:

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I.

"Accessory equipment" means any equipment serving or being used in conjunction with a PWSF or mount. The term includes utility or transmission equipment, power supplies, generators, batteries, cables, equipment buildings, cabinets and storage sheds, shelters, or similar structures.

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II.

"Antenna" means the equipment from which wireless radio signals are sent and received by a PWSF.

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III.

"Applicant" means a carrier or any person engaged in the business of providing the infrastructure required for a PWSF who submits a collocation application or a modification application.

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IV.

"Authority" means each state, county, and each governing body, board, agency, office, or commission of a municipality authorized by law to make legislative, quasi judicial, or administrative decisions relative to the construction, installation, modification, or siting of PWSFs and mounts. The term shall not include state courts having jurisdiction over land use, planning, or zoning decisions made by an authority.

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V.

"Average tree canopy height" means the average height found by inventorying the height above ground level of all trees over a specified height within a specified radius.

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VI.

"Base station" means a station at the base of a mount or in the area near the PWSF that is authorized to communicate with mobile stations, generally consisting of radio transceivers, antennas, coaxial cables, power supplies, and other associated electronics.

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VII.

"Building permit" means a permit issued pursuant to RSA 676 by an authority prior to the collocation or modification of PWSFs, solely to ensure that the work to be performed by the applicant satisfies the applicable building code.

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VIII.

"Camouflaged" means for a personal wireless service facility one that is disguised, hidden, part of an existing or proposed structure, or placed within an existing or proposed structure.

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IX.

"Carrier" means a person that provides personal wireless services.

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X.

"Collocation" means the placement or installation of new PWSFs on existing towers or mounts, including electrical transmission towers and water towers, as well as existing buildings and other structures capable of structurally supporting the attachment of PWSFs in compliance with applicable codes. "Collocation" does not include a "substantial modification."

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XI.

"Collocation application" shall mean a request submitted by an applicant to an authority for collocation on a tower or mount.

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XII.

[Repealed.]

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XIII.

"Disguised" means, for a PWSF, designed to look like a structure which may commonly be found in the area surrounding a proposed PWSF such as, but not limited to, flagpoles, light poles, traffic lights, or artificial tree poles.

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XIV.

"Electrical transmission tower" means an electrical transmission structure used to support high voltage overhead power lines. The term shall not include any utility pole.

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XV.

"Equipment compound" means an area surrounding or near the base of a tower or mount supporting a PWSF, and encompassing all equipment shelters, cabinets, generators, and appurtenances primarily associated with the PWSF.

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XVI.

"Equipment shelter" means an enclosed structure, cabinet, shed vault, or box near the base of a mount within which are housed equipment for PWSFs, such as batteries and electrical equipment.

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XVII.

"Height" means the height above ground level from the natural grade of a site to the highest point of a structure.

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XVIII.

"Modification" means the replacement or alteration of an existing PWSF within a previously approved equipment compound or upon a previously approved mount. Routine maintenance of an approved PWSF shall not be considered a modification.

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XIX.

"Modification application" means a request submitted by an applicant to an authority for modification of a PWSF.

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XX.

"Mount" means the structure or surface upon which antennas are mounted and includes roof-mounted, side-mounted, ground-mounted, and structure-mounted antennas on an existing building, as well as an electrical transmission tower and water tower, and excluding utility poles.

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XXI.

"Municipality" means any city, town, unincorporated town, or unorganized place within the state.

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XXII.

"Personal wireless service facility" or "PWSF" or "facility" means any "PWSF" as defined in the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996, 47 U.S.C. section 332(c)(7)(C)(ii), including facilities used or to be used by a licensed provider of personal wireless services. A PWSF includes the set of equipment and network components, exclusive of the underlying tower or mount, including, but not limited to, antennas, accessory equipment, transmitters, receivers, base stations, power supplies, cabling, and associated equipment necessary to provide personal wireless services.

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XXIII.

"Radio frequency emissions" means the emissions from personal wireless service facilities, as described in the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996, 47 U.S.C. section 332(c)(7)(B)(iv).

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XXIV.

"Tower" shall mean a freestanding or guyed structure, such as a monopole, monopine, or lattice tower, designed to support PWSFs.

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XXV.

"Substantial modification" means the mounting of a proposed PWSF on a tower or mount which, as a result of single or successive modification applications:

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(a)

Increases or results in the increase of the permitted vertical height of a tower, or the existing vertical height of a mount, by either more than 10 percent or the height of one additional antenna array with separation from the nearest existing antenna not to exceed 20 feet, whichever is greater; or

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(b)

Involves adding an appurtenance to the body of a tower or mount that protrudes horizontally from the edge of the tower or mount more than 20 feet, or more than the width of the tower or mount at the level of the appurtenance, whichever is greater, except where necessary to shelter the antenna from inclement weather or to connect the antenna to the tower or mount via cable; or

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(c)

Increases or results in the increase of the permitted square footage of the existing equipment compound by more than 2,500 square feet; or

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(d)

Adds to or modifies a camouflaged PWSF in a way that would defeat the effect of the camouflage.

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XXVI.

"Utility pole" means a structure owned and/or operated by a public utility, municipality, electric membership corporation, or rural electric cooperative that is designed specifically for and used to carry lines, cables, or wires for telephony, cable television, or electricity, or to provide lighting.

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XXVII.

"Water tower" means a water storage tank, or a standpipe or an elevated tank situated on a support structure, originally constructed for use as a reservoir or facility to store or deliver water. Source. 2000, 240:1. 2003, 319:9. 2004, 257:44, eff. July 1, 2004. 2013, 267:3, eff. Sept. 22, 2013. 2017, 156:64, eff. July 1, 2017. 2021, 91:200, eff. July 1, 2021. 2024, 375:10, II, eff. July 1, 2024.

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