Document Type
Thesis
Abstract
Since 2004, when the Nationwide Programmatic Agreement was created to help protect and standardize the process of telecommunication tower review within the United States, many installations have been erected that have caused adverse effects on the historic resources that those regulations were intended to protect. This thesis looks at why the Nationwide Programmatic Agreement was enacted and what could be changed to help improve the review and practice of the telecommunication tower process.
The goal was to identify the ways in which the agreement could be improved upon to help minimize adverse effects on historic properties by telecommunication installations that were still able to continue through the current regulations. The research process included interviewing professionals, reviewing case studies, and literature review done on the telecommunication industry as well as the preservation field; in regard to current regulations. Based on the results, the researcher identified four areas where the current act should be reviewed and amendments should be made. These areas are as follows: 1) thirty-day deadline, 2) installation follow-up, 3) lack of awareness of the Nationwide Programmatic Agreement regulations, and 4) town or city owned properties and telecommunication installations. This thesis will suggest changes that can be made to each of the above mentioned areas. The changes suggested will only influence change within those areas to help alleviate the problems within, they will not directly change the areas themselves.
Recommended Citation
Briggs, Laura, "The Ineffectiveness of the National Programmatic Agreement for Cell Phone Towers" (2013). Historic Preservation Theses. 5.
https://docs.rwu.edu/hp_theses/5
