Commercial communication towers regulations.
Tampa City Code § 27-282.6
in effectSec. 27-282.6. - Commercial communication towers regulations.
(a) Purpose. The purpose of these supplemental regulations are to promote the health, safety and general welfare of residents of the City of Tampa, to provide standards for the safe provision of telecommunications consistent with applicable federal and state regulations, and to protect the natural features and aesthetic character of the city with special attention to residential neighborhoods, historic districts and landmarks and the city rights-of-way.
These regulations are not intended to prohibit or have the effect of prohibiting the provision of personal wireless services nor shall they be used to unreasonably discriminate among providers of functionally equivalent services consistent with current federal regulations.
(b) Development standards.
(1) Commercial communication tower location requirements. It is the intent of this section to identify appropriate locational requirements for commercial communication towers. Locational requirements seek to minimize the visual obtrusiveness of commercial communication towers to surrounding areas, to allow for the establishment of an efficient telecommunication network through the use of commercial communication towers, when necessary, and to provide high quality service while minimizing the number of commercial communication tower sites.
a. Height, setback and separation distance requirements for site location in various areas are identified in Table 6-1.
Commercial Communication Towers Locational Requirements
Table 6-1
CATEGORY | CG & OP | CD-1, CD-2, CD-3 | CI | OP-1, IG, & IH
Required Tower Type | Monopole | Monopole | Monopole | Monopole
Maximum Height | 80 ft. | 100 ft. | 140 ft. | 200 ft.
Minimum Setback | Underlying District | Underlying District | Underlying District | Underlying District
Minimum Separation from Residential use | 100% of Tower Ht. | 100% of Tower Ht. | 100% of Tower Ht. | 100% of Tower Ht.
Minimum Separation from Local Historic Dist. or Landmark site. | 300% of tower height | 300% of tower height | 300% of tower height. | 300% of tower height
NOTE: Commercial telecommunication towers seeking to locate in Commercial General (CG) and Office Professional (OP) are considered a Special Use 2 (S-2) subject to compliance with all sections of Article II, Division 5, Special Use Permits set forth herein.
NOTE: Distance separation shall be measured from the base of the tower to the residential, historic or landmark site property line.
NOTE: Distance separation from right-of-way shall be consistent with the requirements of the underlying zoning district.
NOTE: Requests for commercial communication towers in National Historic Districts shall be considered through a special use S(2) public hearing before city council.
NOTE: The construction of commercial communication towers is prohibited in the Accident Potential I and II Zones (APZ) around MacDill Air Force Base as noted on the Future Land Use Map of the City of Tampa Comprehensive Plan.
b. Communication equipment and communication towers owned and operated by governmental agencies responsible for public safety (e.g. city police and fire department, sheriffs office, federal aviation authority) are not subject to the maximum height restrictions and may be located in any zoning district. The use of guyed or lattice tower, to achieve the necessary height, is allowed only through a special use, S(2) public hearing before city council.
c. The applicant may petition through the special use, S(2) process to reduce setback and separation requirements or increase maximum tower height listed in Table 6-1. The applicant must submit a petition in sufficient detail to demonstrate compliance with all other provisions in the code not specifically called out for a consideration to be changed. City council may approve such reductions, alterations or changes if it can be demonstrated that the application meets the requirements of 1., 2., or 3. set forth below and the requirements of 4., 5., and 6. are satisfied:
1. Techniques which have the effect of significantly reducing or eliminating visual obtrusiveness are incorporated into the design of the commercial communication towers. The tower site, associated equipment shelters, fencing and appurtenances are designed to reflect the physical character, massing, scale, architecture and historic nature (where applicable) of the surrounding neighborhood.
2. Full compliance with all setback or separation requirements would result in the removal of a grand tree, as set forth in Chapter 13, City of Tampa Code of Ordinances, which would otherwise be saved by reducing the setback or separation.
3. The approval of the variance request will result in multiple carriers (three (3) or more) on the tower.
4. The variance, if allowed, will not substantially interfere with or injure the rights of others whose property would be affected by allowance of the tower.
5. The variance is in harmony with and serves the general intent and purpose of the chapter and the adopted Tampa Comprehensive Plan.
6. Allowing the variance will result in substantial justice being done, considering both the public benefits intended to be secured by the chapter and the individual hardships that will be suffered by a failure of the city council to grant the variance.
(2) The applicant shall demonstrate by an affidavit from a registered professional engineer or the tower's manufacturer that the commercial communication tower will support the specified number of antennas as set forth below to accommodate collocation, and that it will be constructed to the EIA/TIA 22-E Standards, as published by the Electronic Industries Association, which may be amended from time to time, and all applicable City of Tampa Building Codes.
a. All commercial communication towers, except camouflaged structures, over eighty (80) feet and up to and including one hundred forty (140) feet in height shall be structurally designed to accommodate at least two (2) antenna arrays.
b. All commercial communication towers, except camouflaged structures, exceeding one hundred forty (140) feet in height shall be structurally designed to accommodate at least three antenna arrays.
(3) The proposed commercial communication tower shall be designed and constructed to ensure that the structural failure or collapse will not create a safety hazard to adjoining properties.
(4) The applicant shall demonstrate that the antenna(s) to be attached to the tower comply with the FCC and other applicable federal or state regulations relative to telecommunications and radio frequency emission levels.
(5) The commercial communication tower shall not be used for, nor contain signage, designs or logos for private, political or commercial advertising.
(6) If visible from surrounding properties accessory buildings, structures or appurtenances serving the commercial communication tower site shall be designed to be compatible with the architecture and physical character of the immediate neighborhood.
(7) The commercial communication tower may be located on a zoning lot containing other principal uses. The commercial communication tower may be located on a parcel smaller than the minimum lot size of the underlying zoning district. This parcel shall be known as the "commercial communication tower site." The commercial communication tower site, and not the entire zoning lot, shall be subject to requirements of this Code. However, where public notice is required, the entire zoning lot shall be considered for calculation of the required area for which notice is to be provided. The creation of the "commercial communication tower site" shall not cause the reduction of required parking, landscaping or other code requirements for the use of the parent tract.
(8) A minimum eight-foot high finished masonry wall or other decorative type fence shall be required around all portions of commercial communication tower sites adjacent to or visible from residentially zoned or used property or public road rights-of-way. However, in industrial zoned districts, the fence may be a chain link fence or other type security fence. Wooden slat fences shall not be allowed in any zoning district. For purposes of this section, a finished masonry wall includes, but is not limited to stucco, brick, or any other decorative cover or finish.
(9) The landscaping buffer shall consist of a row of evergreen shade trees a minimum of fifteen (15) feet tall with a four (4) inch caliper. They shall be spaced a maximum of fifteen (15) feet apart around the outside perimeter of the security fence or wall. In addition, a row of evergreen shrubs such as viburnum, ligustrum, holly or juniper, four (4) feet high, seven (7) gallon container, will be planted eight (8) feet on center, in order to maintain eighty (80) percent opacity within one (1) year of planting. This landscaping will be maintained through an irrigation system approved by the Planning and Development Department (PDD) during the term of the lease or the operation of the commercial communication tower, whichever is longer.
a. When the base of a commercial communication tower site is visible from public right-of-way or residentially zoned or used property, it shall be screened with the required landscape buffering located outside of the security fence.
b. Existing trees and vegetation shall be preserved to the maximum extent possible and may be used as a substitute towards meeting the landscaping requirements if they are of equal quality and provide effective screening. Any vegetation that is preserved or used as a substitute must be maintained throughout the term of the lease or the operation of the commercial communication tower.
c. Intervening buildings or other structures which provide the equivalent screening from view from residentially zoned or used properties and public rights-of-way may be used as a substitute toward meeting the screening requirement.
d. Where it can be demonstrated that the provision of the required trees and/or vegetation would present a safety hazard (such as around an electrical substation) alternative for compliance with the vegetative requirements may be approved by the zoning administrator.
(10) Commercial communication towers shall not be artificially lighted except to ensure human safety or as required by the FAA.
(c) Location overlay sites. The purpose of location overlay sites is to allow for a greater flexibility for the location of commercial communication tower sites, provide for areas which are pre-approved allowing for greater ability to pre-plan multiple sites, maximize the use of sites which have been under utilized and to reduce the number of commercial communication tower sites which are visually obtrusive.
Designated public and private facilities and structures may be considered for the location of commercial communication towers without regard to the underlying zoning district prohibitions if certain conditions, called out below, can be met (NOTE: The construction of commercial communication towers in the APZ I and II zones is prohibited). However, the landscape buffer and screening requirements of section 27-282.6(b)(10) apply. If one (1) of the sites identified below is within a zoning district that has less restrictive setback, height or separation requirements the less restrictive requirement shall apply. In addition, if a site is located within a local historic district, a Certificate of Appropriateness (C/A) is still required and the ARC or Barrio Latino Commission may require the tower to be camouflaged.
(1) Commercial communication towers (monopole) are permitted by right in all utility easements of one hundred (100) in width or greater when they maintain a distance separation equal to or greater than one hundred ten (110) percent of the tower height from a residentially zoned or used property. An existing utility transmission pole can be changed out and increased in height for the purpose of adding one (1) or more communication antennas regardless of the above distance separation requirement, up to seventy-five (75) percent of the existing pole height or one hundred twenty (120) feet which ever is taller. The maximum height of the changed out pole shall be limited to two hundred (200) feet.
(2) Commercial communication towers are permitted by right in the right-of-way of the Veterans Expressway, the Leroy Selmon Expressway, Interstate 4, Interstate 75 and Interstate 275 when being installed as a lightpole change out, provided there is not a reduction of the distance separation to a residentially zoned or used property.
(3) Monopoles of one hundred forty (140) feet or less are permitted by right in designated city parklands and recreation facilities when they maintain the following distance separation:
a. Towers over one hundred (100) feet in height three hundred (300) feet from a residentially zoned or used property; or
b. Towers one hundred (100) feet or less in height two hundred (200) feet from a residentially zoned or used property. The tower site must meet the landscape and screening requirements of sections 27-282.6.(b)(8) and (9). Alternatives to these requirements may be approved by the city parks department.
(4) Monopoles of one hundred forty (140) feet or less may be erected within designated utility transfer or electrical substations which have a minimum lot size of ten thousand (10,000) square feet. A visual screening and vegetative hedge must be installed which does not create an electrical safety hazard.
(5) Monopoles of one hundred forty (140) feet or less may be permitted by right on designated Hillsborough County School Board sites when they maintain the following distance separation:
a. Towers over one hundred (100) feet in height three hundred (300) feet from a residentially zoned and used property or;
b. Towers one hundred (100) feet or less in height one hundred (100) feet from a residentially zoned or used property.
(6) Monopoles of one hundred forty (140) feet or less may be permitted by right on designated city owned sites when they maintain the following distance separation:
a. Towers over one hundred (100) feet in height—Three hundred (300) feet from a residentially zoned or used property or
b. Towers one hundred (100) feet or less in height—One hundred (100) feet from a residentially zoned or used property.
(7) The sites described in subsections (2) through (6) above shall be identified and illustrated on a map which shall be approved and adopted by resolution of city council. The approved map shall be maintained and kept on file by the zoning administrator as Map 27-1.
(d) Replacement and modification of existing commercial communication towers. To encourage the use of sites on which existing commercial communication towers are already located, and which create a visual or height impact, modifications or replacements of such facilities may occur subject to the following conditions:
(1) Commercial communication towers existing prior to the adoption of this section shall be considered legal nonconforming uses. Such facilities may be used, repaired, replaced or modified in accordance with this section. An existing commercial communication tower may be modified or replaced to accommodate the co-location of antenna(s). An existing commercial communication tower which, when modified or replaced, will not conform to the requirements of the Code, may be increased in height, one (1) time, up to forty (40) feet above the existing height and/or may be relocated on the same zoning lot, one (1) time, within seventy-five (75) feet of the existing location, with administrative review and without conformance to the distance separation requirements contained herein. For purposes of this section, only those towers which were legally permitted and in existence prior to the adoption of this section shall be considered "existing commercial communications towers.
(2) A commercial communication tower which is modified or replaced to accommodate the collocation of additional antenna(s) shall be either of the same type as the existing commercial communication towers or shall be a monopole.
(3) The existing commercial communication towers shall be removed within ninety (90) days of replacement.
(e) Commercial communication towers site review process. Any applicant or agent thereof proposing to erect or construct a commercial communication tower or modify or replace an existing commercial communication tower by increasing the height or by altering the existing site after the effective date of this ordinance is required to comply with the provisions of this section.
(1) Submission of application. An application for the construction or alteration of a commercial communication tower site shall be submitted to the Planning and Development Department (PDD) as part of the application for commercial site plan review as required by Chapter 5 of this Code. The city shall retain a technical expert, such as a registered professional engineer with expertise in the telecommunications field, to participate in the review of the application. The cost of the review by the technical expert shall be borne by the applicant.
(2) Review procedure.
a. Preapplication conference. Any applicant or agent thereof required to obtain a commercial communication tower site permit shall schedule a courtesy review with the City of Tampa Planning and Development Department prior to the submission of the permit application, in order to review the requirements of this section. The applicant shall bring to the conference the legal description of the proposed commercial communication tower site and zoning lot, a conceptual plan of the commercial communication tower site, and an elevation drawing of the commercial communication tower site improvements.
b. Submission requirements. All applications for a commercial communication tower site permit shall contain the following items:
1. The applicant shall be the commercial communication tower owner or their authorized agent. The application shall be signed and notarized by the owner of the property upon which the commercial communication tower is being constructed with the property owner's acknowledgment of the requirements relating to abandonment of the tower as set forth in section (f) below. Documentation shall be submitted as to the telecommunication carrier(s) utilizing the commercial communication tower.
2. Site and landscape plan (including vegetative pallet) drawn to scale, legal description of commercial communication tower site and zoning lot, north arrow and demonstration of compliance with applicable land development regulations.
3. An elevation, drawn to scale, of the zoning lot's view from city right-of-way and any abutting residential use or property,
4. Documentation of compliance with F.A.A. and local aviation authority regulations,
5. Documentation to assure that the antennas to be placed on the tower meet all relevant FCC regulations and radio frequency emission standards.
6. Copies of any relevant easements,
7. The applicant must include in the application an affidavit of its good faith intent to allow the collocation of wireless communication antennas by other telecommunication carriers at a reasonable market rate. The cost of modifying the commercial communication tower to accommodate the collocated antennas shall be borne by the collocating telecommunication carrier,
8. The applicant shall provide a notice of the proposed location to other telecommunication carriers with potential interest in collocation by "certificate of mailing" through the United States Post Office. Copies of the letters must be submitted with the application. Notice shall direct the carriers interested in collocation to contact the zoning administrator. If a potential user requests collocation in writing to the zoning administrator, the burden shall be on the applicant to demonstrate that collocation can not be accommodated pursuant to the standards set forth in subsection (10), below.
9. The applicant shall provide the applicable propagation models, search ring maps and other relevant documentation for the telecommunication carrier which has demonstrated an intent to locate a wireless communication antenna on the proposed tower ("intended carrier") and shall identify all existing structures within the telecommunication carrier's search ring of equal or greater height than the proposed commercial communication tower.
10. The applicant must demonstrate to the satisfaction of the city's technical expert that the wireless telecommunication antenna to be attached to the proposed commercial communication tower cannot be accommodated on the identified existing structures or on a commercial communication tower within the telecommunication carrier's search ring due to one (1) or more of the following reasons:
i. Both the owner/operator of the existing commercial communication tower and the applicant have verified that an additional antenna array would exceed the structural capacity of the existing commercial communication tower or structure, and the existing commercial communication tower or structure cannot reasonably be replaced with a new tower;
ii. The city's technical expert has verified that the existing structure(s) will not fulfill the design objective and approach of the intended carrier.
iii. The city's technical expert has verified that the wireless telecommunication antennae would cause RF or other type of interference or be interfered with by the operation of existing or proposed wireless telecommunication antennas, located on or near the existing structure;
iv. The existing commercial communication tower does not have the space or availability at the required height, or adequate area upon which to locate and operate the necessary equipment effectively and reasonably;
v. The lease terms on an existing tower are not economically reasonable and are substantially higher than current market rates.
11. Documentation establishing the structural integrity for the commercial communication tower's proposed use.
12. An affidavit from the property owner acknowledging acceptance of the requirements of section 27-282.6.(d).
13. A lease agreement demonstrating that one (1) or more telecommunication carriers intend to locate wireless communication antenna(s) on the proposed tower.
14. An affidavit from the applicant documenting the specific number of antennas the proposed tower is designed to support.
15. Prior to issuance of a certificate of completion, the tower owner shall document liability coverage for the tower and shall submit a sealed survey (completed by a licensed Florida surveyor) verifying the finished tower height is consistent with the approved permit.
c. Action on application. The Planning and Development Department (PDD) shall review the application for compliance with the requirements of this section. Commercial communication tower site permits shall be issued when such compliance is met. A commercial communication tower site permit shall have a built-out deadline of one (1) year. The built-out deadline shall be deemed to be met if the holder of the permit has completed fifty (50) percent of the permitted construction and is proceeding with the remainder of the construction under an active permit.
If it is determined that an application does not comply with the provisions of this section, the commercial communication tower site permit shall be denied.
(f) Removal of abandoned commercial communication towers.
(1) Each commercial communication tower site permit application must include an acknowledgement by the property owner and applicant that if the use of any commercial communication tower is discontinued for more than one hundred eighty (180) days, it shall be deemed to be abandoned. The property owner shall notify the city of the tower abandonment by certified mail within thirty (30) days.
(2) Determination of the date of abandonment shall be made by the zoning administrator who shall have the right to request documentation and/or affidavits from the commercial communication tower owner/operator regarding the active use of the commercial communication tower.
(3) The zoning administrator shall provide notice by certified mail to the property owner that the final determination of abandonment has been made.
(4) The property owner shall have ninety (90) days from the date of the notice of abandonment to either,
a. Cause the reactivation of the use of the commercial communication tower; or
b. Dismantle and remove the commercial communication tower.
(5) At the earlier of ninety-one (91) days from the date of the notice of the zoning administrator's determination of abandonment without reactivation, or upon completion of dismantling and removal, any site approval for the use of the commercial communication tower shall automatically expire.
(6) The owner of the real property shall be ultimately responsible for all costs of dismantling and removal, and in the event the commercial communication tower is not removed within ninety (90) days of abandonment, the city may initiate the legal proceedings to do so and assess the costs against real property.
(g) Inspections. The planning and development department shall conduct on-site inspections of all tower sites at regularly scheduled intervals in order to ensure that each site is currently operational and not considered abandoned as set forth in (f)(1) above, is being maintained and is in compliance with its approved site plan.
(Ord. No. 2013-67, § 2, 5-16-2013)
Source: City of Tampa, Code of Ordinances and Charter and Related Laws (Municode Library, library.municode.com)URL: https://library.municode.com/fl/tampa/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=COOR_CH27ZOLADE_ARTVISURE_DIV2RESPUS_S27-282.6COCOTOREFetched: 10/28/2026