28  April 2017 Dearborn County Commissioners EMERGENCY Meeting Notes

Present: Shane McHenry, President, Art Little, and Kevin Lynch

Also present: Gayle Pennington, Auditor, Andy Baudendistel, Attorney.

Bill Shelton Building Inspector, Todd Listerman, Highway Engineer, and Mark McCormack, Planning Director

ABSENT: Terri Randall, Administrator

Baudendistel read the Title VI statement as legally required.

NEW BUSINESS: Baudendistel: Meeting asked for by Baudendistel after hearing about this from Mark McCormack, from Planning and Zoning.

Wireless support structures SB 213 is overly broad and it allows local municipalities counties towns etc to establish

Miller,  Smart, and Weldon, attorneys for the 3 cities were involved. 

Designating all the incorporated areas to have underground utilities not just the the current subdivisions preserves the ability to control cell tower placements. This can be amended later as needed. The governor has’t even signed this law. Even if he doesn’t the deadline still stands. The law does not change anything as far as co location or on maintenance and repair. 

McCormack: explained further saying that there are areas of the county that could be impacted like Bright where they have a lot of underground utilities. Development standards favor getting the utilities underground. They need to have consistency so as to not discriminate on standards. The cities are more impacted as they are placing more small cell structures on buildings or towers etc. 

Discussion around the ability to control some of these issues. Carmel IN, Decatur, Shelby and Johnson County are all watching this bill over time. Baudendistel read off the names of the authors of the bill. McCormack says its a bad bill- they should have worked longer on it. AIC (Association for Indiana Counties) and other entities for municipalities were all against the bill as is. It effectively eliminates our home rule over our own right of ways. It was being pushed by industry. McHenry said the deadline said it shows it intends to deceive people. Tech  needs to be advanced but not this way. They were thankful to Mark for keeping them in the loop and getting this out in time. McCormack found out April 25th that they had changed it. That gave us 5 days to react. Listerman said Mark kept them up to date on how the affects our right of ways. 

Asked for my thoughts on public impact. I told them I was surprised that they could take more liberties than even a public utility generally gets. It would be a taking if this were private property. Instead they are taking the public right of way for themselves. 

All our reps voted for it. In their defense, Baudendistel said they probably didn’t see the last minute change with a short deadline. I said- that even with that- they should have had an issue with the immense latitude they had with the entire public ROW. 

Resolution is to cover us using the blanket approach for protecting the whole county. Baudendistel read the entire resolution. 

RESOLUTION NO. 2017-_2____

SHORT TITLE: RESOLUTION OF THE DEARBORN COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS WHICH IDENTIFIES CERTAIN AREAS OF THE COUNTY AS AREAS DESIGNATED STRICTLY FOR UNDERGROUND OR BURIED UTILITIES

WHEREAS, the Dearborn County Board of Commissioners (“Commissioners”) have jurisdiction over street right-of-ways within the unincorporated areas of the County of Dearborn, Indiana (“County”) and is the permit authority of such municipality regarding the use of County street right-of-ways; and

WHEREAS, Senate Enrolled Act 213 has been enacted into law and amends Indiana Code § 8-1-32.3 as of April 30, 2017 to allow the use of the County’s street right-of-ways for the construction, installation, and use of small cell facilities and wireless support structures; and

WHEREAS, such legislation allows the permit authority of a municipality to designate areas as strictly for underground or buried utilities, provided that such areas are so designated before May 1, 2017; and

WHEREAS, the County, through its Commissioners, desires to designate areas within the unincorporated areas of the County as strictly for underground or buried utilities in order to restrict or prohibit the construction, placement, or use of a small cell facility and the associated supporting structure within the County’s street right-of-ways in such areas where investments have been made to ensure utility lines are located or buried underground.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE DEARBORN COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS AS FOLLOWS:

1. Purpose. The purpose of this Resolution is to adopt a local policy regarding 

the designation of locations within the unincorporated areas of the 

County as underground or buried utility areas pursuant to Indiana 

Code § 8-1-32.3-15(c)(1).

2. Designation. The County, through its Commissioners, hereby determines that 

various developers and homeowners located within the 

unincorporated areas of the County have previously made 

investments to ensure utility lines are located or buried 

underground and, therefore, in an effort to continue this policy, all 

subdivisions located in the unincorporated areas of the County 

where utility lines are currently located or buried underground are 

hereby designated as areas strictly for underground or buried 

utilities pursuant to Indiana Code § 8-1-32.3-15(c)(1).

3. Restrictions. With respect to the construction, placement, or use of a small cell 

facility and the associated support structure, the Commissioners 

hereby restrict and prohibit the placement of new utility poles or 

new wireless support structures in the designated areas of the 

County right-of-ways as outlined in Section 3, except as otherwise 

permitted in Section 4 of this Resolution.

4. Exceptions. Notwithstanding the restrictions and prohibitions contained in 

Section 3, above, the following provisions shall be met and the following exceptions are hereby permitted:

(A) Collocation of small cell facilities on existing utility poles and wireless support structures within the unincorporated areas of the County are allowed;

(B) Repair and/or replacement of existing utility poles and wireless support structures within the unincorporated areas of the County are allowed;

(C) A petition for a request to install new utility poles or new wireless support structures within the unincorporated areas of the County may be filed with the Commissioners which shall hold a public hearing on such petition within thirty (30) days of filing, and upon which a decision shall be made by the Commissioners within sixty (60) days of such filing;

(D) Upon receipt of a petition for the construction, placement, or use of a small cell facility on one (1) or more new utility poles or one (1) or more new wireless support structures in the unincorporated areas of the County, the County shall post notice of the petition on the County’s Internet website with a statement that the petition is available to public upon request; and

(E) The prohibition or other restrictions with respect to the placement of new utility poles or new wireless support structures within the unincorporated areas of the County shall be applied in a nondiscriminatory manner.

5. Emergency. Due to the statutory deadline by which the Commissioners must 

take action, an emergency is hereby declared and this Resolution 

shall be binding and effective immediately upon its adoption and 

execution.  Should Senate Enrolled Act 213 not become law for 

any reason, this Resolution shall not take effect.

DULY PASSED, ADOPTED AND RESOLVED BY THE DEARBORN COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ON THIS THE 28^TH DAY OF APRIL, 2017.

COUNTY OF DEARBORN, INDIANA

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

________________________________________________

Shane McHenry, President

________________________________________________

Kevin Lynch, Member

________________________________________________

Art Little, Member

Attest:

_______________________________________

Gayle Pennington, Auditor

Commissioners adopted the ordinance and signed it.

Meeting Adjourned at 10:33 AM

Christine Brauer Mueller

Lawrenceburg Township