The federal appeals court in San Francisco set 5 April 2019 as the filing date for opening briefs in the nine challenges it’s received, so far, to the Federal Communications Commission’s September order preempting municipal ownership of streetlight poles and other potential wireless assets in the public right of way.

The FCC will have a month to respond, then the challengers will have three weeks to file a final rebuttal. So it’ll be the end of May before all the opening arguments are on the table.… More

The Federal Communications Commission’s order preempting local ownership of streetlights and other municipal property in the public right of way is now active. What does it mean to cities? Nothing much, according to a court filing by the FCC…

The Order does not itself require localities to do anything, nor does it compel approval of any particular siting request; it simply articulates standards for courts to apply if and when they are confronted with any future siting disputes that might eventually arise…nor does it prevent localities from recovering all of their actual and reasonable costs…

The Order’s safe harbor for recurring fees up to $270 per small cell per year is not a “limit o[n] compensation” above that amount, as Movants wrongly assert; rather, the Order makes clear that localities may charge higher fees if a reasonable approximation of their costs exceeds that amount.

Update, 11 January 2019: the federal tenth circuit court of appeals denied a request by the City of San Jose and other cities to delay implementation of the FCC’s September preemption order. It is still scheduled to take effect on Monday.

The growing list of challenges to a Federal Communications Commission decision to preempt local ownership of streetlight poles and other municipal property located in the public right of way will be decided by the San Francisco-based ninth circuit federal appeals court.… More