Bloom Sluggett recently filed Comments with the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) on behalf of a Coalition of Michigan Local Governments (the “Coalition”), consisting of PROTEC – The Michigan Coalition to Protect Public Rights-of-Way, the City of Ann Arbor, and the Grand Valley Metropolitan Council. Our Comments were filed in response to the FCC’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in its Build America: Eliminating Barriers to Wireline Deployments docket. The FCC has proposed placing significant restrictions on local governments’ abilities to manage our rights of way—a responsibility that has historically been reserved by constitution and statute to local governments. The Coalition’s comments were filed to present the FCC with arguments demonstrating the importance of protecting local control over public rights-of-way.
One of the FCC’s proposals is the adoption of a “shot clock” deadline, by which a local government would be required to act on a telecommunication provider’s application for access to and use of the public right-of-way. Another proposal would establish limits on fees local governments could charge, including for a telecommunications provider’s use of municipally owned infrastructure. The FCC also asked whether it should take action regarding unused telecommunications facilities in rights-of-way.
The FCC’s actions on these issues could have broad ramifications for how local governments manage their rights-of-way. As explained in the Coalition’s Comments, these rules would place an unfair burden on local governments. The imposition of a deadline would increase expenses in staffing and application processing, as happened when the FCC imposed a similar shot clock for “small cell” wireless facility applications. Fee limitations are similarly misguided, especially with respect to municipal infrastructure. And while the FCC’s interest in helping remove abandoned and unsightly facilities that clutter public rights-of-way, local governments are in the best position to directly handle the issue—though we asked the FCC to recognize this particular problem, admonish the industry for this neglect, and underscore and support the authority of local communities to act.
For these reasons, the Coalition asked the FCC to take no further action on its proposed rules. But the fight is not over. Along with comments defending local government interests, the FCC also received dozens of comments from the telecommunications industry urging the FCC to adopt its proposed rules or go even further in eroding local control over public rights-of-way. Reply comments are due by November 5, and the Coalition is gearing up to respond to points raised by industry commenters.