A new ordinance in Langley is attracting national attention.
This week, the Langley City Council unanimously approved the second reading for an ordinance capable of limiting wireless facilities.
The new wireless code, written by New York attorney Andrew Campanelli, aims to minimize the number of cell towers and other personal wireless service facilities and to mitigate “unnecessary adverse impacts” against the city’s residential areas and individual homes.
During a council meeting earlier this year, Campanelli, who specializes in litigation based on the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996, spoke to the council about the new comprehensive code. The city’s original code regarding wireless communications is merely one page in length and includes basic provisions that leave things a little too open-ended, according to Campanelli.
Langley resident Mark Wahl, who has taken a special interest in this issue, raised $8,800 through a GoFundMe account to foot the bill for the new ordinance. Originally he tried writing the ordinance himself before deciding he needed a professional.
From his three years of research, he identified Campanelli as an expert in the field and contacted him about writing the city’s new ordinance.
As Wahl shared during this week’s city council meeting, his successful GoFundMe campaign has gained national traction.
“Nationally, no one had tried this idea,” he said of using the online platform to raise funds. “This is considered very novel.”
Environmental activists on the East Coast are taking notice and have been contacting him about Langley’s new and advanced wireless code.
The council unanimously approved the wireless ordinance. Even Councilmember Thomas Gill, who was an early opponent of the new code, had nothing but good things to say about it.
“Having a chance to kind of look at it from a different point of view, I think it’s perfectly reasonable,” he said.
Wahl is hopeful that Island County might choose to adopt a similar code.
Commissioner Melanie Bacon said she plans to ask for a review of this code, but is not confident there will be enough support to get it on the county planning department’s work plan for 2023.
