State Codes and Statutes
Statutes > Vermont > Title-10 > Chapter-83 > 2606a
§ 2606a. Mountaintop use as communications sites
(a) State policy. It is hereby adopted as state policy to permit limited use of designated state-owned land under the jurisdiction of the department for electronic communications broadcasting by both public and private entities. Use of the designated sites shall be in compliance with the policy set forth herein under the management of government and private users of the mountaintops. This policy implementation has the objectives of:
(1) protecting state-owned mountaintops from the development of new communications facilities which have a significant adverse environmental impact;
(2) protecting mountaintop communication signals from interference by existing or subsequent users; and
(3) maximizing use of limited mountaintop facilities through consolidation of equipment, efficient development and economic management of each site.
(b) Specific sites.
(1) Mountaintop designation. The state-owned mountaintops to which this section shall apply are: Ascutney Mountain North Peak and Ascutney Mountain South Peak, Burke Mountain, Okemo Mountain and Killington Mountain. Before any applicable permitting process is commenced regarding Okemo Mountain, the Okemo Mountain technical site committee, created by subdivision (2) of this subsection, shall hold a public hearing in the Town of Ludlow before authorizing any use of the Okemo Mountain site for communications purposes. Upon a request for use or other indication of need for establishing additional communications facilities by either public or private parties, additional mountaintop communications sites may be designated by the department when consistent with long-range management plans for state-owned land and subject to public input. Such designations shall be by rule adopted pursuant to chapter 25 of Title 3.
(2) Technical site committees. A four-person technical site committee is hereby created for each of the specific mountaintop sites designated under this subsection where one or more private entities have installations. Each site committee shall be composed of two representatives of the government users and two representatives of the private sector users at the mountaintop site concerned. The members shall be appointed initially by the commissioner no later than July 1, 1994. Biannually thereafter, the private sector members shall be elected by simple majority vote of the private sector users at each site; such members may include users whose equipment is not yet installed at the site. The appointment or election of site committee members shall seek to include over time a representative of each user of the site concerned. A member of a site committee may be reappointed or reelected.
(3) Committee duties. Each technical site committee shall oversee the management of the site it represents, in accordance with the state policy set forth in this section and as modeled after the communications site standards for Ascutney Mountain. The committee shall develop site standards which ensure that installations do not interfere with each other and are otherwise in compliance with the policy set forth herein. Any applicant seeking to use a designated mountaintop aggrieved by a decision of the technical site committee, may appeal the decision of the committee to the commissioner, who shall make the final decision.
(4) Existing and future leases. All existing and future lease agreements shall be subject to any standards adopted for use of mountaintop sites by the technical site committees and approved by the commissioner. No lease shall be entered into for a period of greater than one year until such time as user fees have been established by rule by the secretary of natural resources under chapter 25 of Title 3.
(5) Administration. Administrative support for the technical site committees shall be provided by the department. (Added 1993, No. 233 (Adj. Sess.), § 63, eff. June 21, 1994; amended 1995, No. 185 (Adj. Sess.), § 10d, eff. May 22, 1996.)
