Substitute House Bill 478 Summary

• Streamlines the process for deploying small cell wireless facilities in public ways by establishing 90-day approval timelines for municipal corporations to grant or deny consent requests, with automatic approval if municipalities fail to respond within the deadline.

• Limits municipal corporation application fees to $250 per small cell facility and annual attachment fees to $200 per facility on municipally-owned wireless support structures, with allowance for 10% adjustments every five years.

• Prohibits municipalities from imposing unreasonable conditions on small cell facility placement, including requirements to justify business need, evaluate service demand, or remove existing wireless structures unless abandoned.

• Establishes permit duration of at least 10 years with presumption of renewal for successive five-year terms for small cell facility attachments to municipal wireless support structures.

• Allows municipal corporations to adopt reasonable design guidelines, spacing requirements, and height restrictions (minimum 35-50 feet) for new wireless support structures while protecting historic districts and residential areas.