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the jurisdiction and is paid by them directly. In all cases, the ordinance provisions are designed so that the applicant pays the full cost of the review. The cost for the review varies from $2000 to $5000. The jurisdictions that were surveyed have had different levels of success with the independent review. Although the outside review has offered a good technical guide, the board in at least one jurisdiction did not accept the findings of the independent review. The majority of the jurisdictions that responded, however, reported favorable results with this method and satisfaction with the procedure by their elected and appointed boards. There are a number of steps to be completed for a jurisdiction wanting to have an independent review: The initial action should be a review of the existing regulations governing wireless communication facilities. This should be done for compliance with the Telecommunications Act and to ensure that the local preferences are being enforced where permitted. Some of the jurisdictions using outside firms indicated that those firms wanted to re-write the local regulations before entering a contract. The review and any required amendments can be completed by staff to save that step. The existing, or amended, regulations should be changed to include the outside review as part of the process. To address the issue about length of the review process, the conditional use section of the ordinance could be changed to permit the inclusion of independent rewew for any conditional use in which technical assistance may be required. Jurisdictions should select a firm to conduct the independent review. While I suppose there could be more than one firm employed for this process, the selection of a single firm would provide some expectation of what services would be provided and what the approximate cost would be. It could be beneficial if more than one jurisdicbon chooses to employ the independent review for them to select the same consultant since coverage areas ovedap jurisdictions. Amend the fee schedule to ~nclude a fee, escrow or whatever method is chosen for payment of cost of th~s review. The method that is created should be set up so that the jurisdiction is paying the outside review agency rather than direct payment from the applicant. I have attached a summary of jurisdictions using this method, a portion of the Guide for Local Officials, and a copy of the Durham ordinance Please review this information so that we may discuss at a later board meeting how each board would like to proceed. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call me at 704-920-2145 or e-mail at jbmarshall@cabarruscounty.us. · Page2