Subject:
Title
Improving Wireless Coverage in Vienna - Second Work Session
Body
Purpose:
Provide information to and Receive Policy Guidance from the Town Council on the Town Council’s 2026 priority initiative to improve wireless coverage in Vienna.
Key QUESTIONS:
Key questions for the Town Council to consider are all follow-up items based on requests from the Town Council’s May 11, 2026, work session. Further detail and background on these questions can be found under “Overview,” below:
1) (This question can be skipped if it has already been covered in the Comprehensive Plan work session.) How does the Town Council wish to treat wireless facilities in the Comprehensive Plan?
2) Are there limits to where the Town Council is willing to consider the installation of a tower whose height would potentially be in the range of 120-150 feet, or is the Town Council open to a wide range of locations?
3) Staff’s refined understanding of the Virginia code is that co-location of wireless facilities must be managed administratively; but that any new installation, of any height, may be a special exception (which the Town of Vienna calls a “conditional use permit”). However, some local governments in Northern Virginia choose to allow administrative approval for all installations under 50 feet, even when they are not co-locations. What does the Town Council wish to do?
4) At present, the Board of Architectural Review (BAR) reviews all proposed wireless installations. Does the Town Council wish to continue with this approach, even for applications that you choose to have reviewed administratively?
BACKGROUND SUMMARY:
On May 11, 2026, the Town Council held its first work session on the goal of improving wireless communications in the Town of Vienna. This goal was selected by the Town Council as one of its priorities for the calendar year 2026. Background for the project was provided within the May 11 staff report.
During that work session, staff placed some questions before the Town Council, as part of the presentation and discussion. The questions addressed whether the Town Council wished to:
§ Amend the code to permit administrative-eligible applications to be reviewed administratively, and all other provisions of Code of Virginia Article 7.2.
§ Consider height limits for installations and locations for those height limits.
§ Consider whether to make Town-owned land available for wireless infrastructure.
§ Consider the role of the Board of Architectural Review in the process.
The Council’s response was yes to the first three questions; however, regarding the role of the BAR, no clear guidance was developed or provided. Nonetheless, Town Council members indicated continued support for the BAR’s role in at least some of the wireless facility review process.
In parallel, the Town Council is working on an update to Vienna’s Comprehensive Plan, which includes components related to wireless coverage. A focus on this section of the Plan would help the Town Council to refine its approach and goals.
The structure of the memorandum will be in response to the questions and topics, starting with the Comprehensive Plan.
OVERVIEW:
1) Comprehensive Plan Approach to Wireless Facilities
(This topic does not need to be covered if it has already been covered in the Comprehensive Plan work session.) The current Plan includes a map of “Encouraged Locations for Telecommunication Facilities, which can be found in “Appendix: Community Facilities and Services” on p. A35 of the current Comprehensive Plan (Attachment 01). That map has been included for the last few updates to the plan.
Most jurisdictions in Northern Virginia do not have such a map in their Comprehensive Plans, though they may have had them in the past. Instead, they describe their jurisdiction’s preferences in policy language.
Key Questions for Council:
1) Is the Town Council satisfied with the language in the draft 2026 Comprehensive Plan regarding wireless coverage (p. 132 under “Other Utilities” and the policy and strategies on p. 138) or should the discussion and approach be changed? Staff believe that the current draft is not sufficient and recommend that it be amended to reflect the Town’s updated approach to solving the problem of weak coverage. The language was prepared before the Town Council developed its priorities for 2026 and clearly identified that improving wireless coverage was a high priority. Staff believe that the Comprehensive Plan should reflect the Town Council’s view and provide policy guidance.
2) Does the Town Council wish to remove the map in the new plan, as the Planning Commission has done for their recommended plan; or does the Town Council wish to include a map of preferred locations?
With guidance from the Town Council, staff can return with updated draft Plan language for review.
2) Amendments to Zoning Regulations
Staff have made significant progress in developing draft language for amendments to zoning regulations and the Town Attorney has done a preliminary review and provided some comments. There is more work to be done ensure that language and requirements are clear.
Even more importantly, zoning regulations should always be based on policies that are embraced by the jurisdiction. Staff have identified, during the drafting process, some open policy questions for which Town Council policy guidance would be very helpful. With this guidance, staff would be prepared, in coordination with the Town Attorney, to bring draft amendment language to the Town Council after the summer break.
The policy questions relate to locations of telecommunications towers and processes for review.
A. Towers
The Town Council indicated its willingness to consider allowing tall towers in Vienna to provide better wireless service. Staff’s improved understanding of how current coverage is provided in metropolitan areas is that the only way to do so is through placing antennas in high locations. To provide coverage, line-of-sight must be achieved and antennas must be above the tree canopy and other buildings. Because the maximum height of Vienna’s buildings is normally 35 feet, installations of antennas on commercial rooftops will only reach 45-50 feet and will not be able to reach into neighborhoods or other areas remote from the antennas. Light poles in rights-of-way can be taller than the buildings, but they still offer a limited amount of coverage. Both can help with coverage along the major thoroughfares and perhaps a line of buildings, but not beyond and, again, into neighborhoods. The Town Council indicated on May 11th that it would be willing to accommodate free-standing towers in Vienna to provide better coverage.
Staff and the Town Attorney have held discussions with Dominion regarding the transmission towers along the W&OD Trail. At this moment, there are no active antennas on the towers within Vienna. On one tower, near the 400 block of Dominion Road NE, three T-Mobile antennas are physically in place and visible. However, T-Mobile informed Town staff that the antennas were decommissioned years ago and no longer provide coverage. While Dominion has indicated a willingness to accommodate antennas to provide coverage, for multiple reasons carriers have not invested in such locations.
There are other locations where height might be achieved, such as on light towers within parks. Staff have not discussed those options with the carriers yet but will do so. Staff have learned that the modern installations are heavier and typically deploy multiple antennas in the same location. Staff do not know whether such light towers 1) are in the needed locations, and 2) would be able to manage the weight from one or more carriers.
With all this background, and with input from the Town Council on May 11th, staff believes that figuring out a way to accommodate free-standing towers is likely needed to provide comprehensive coverage.
Key Questions for Council:
1) Are there limits to where the Town Council is willing to consider the installation of a tower whose height would potentially be in the range of 120-150 feet, or is the Town Council open to a wide range of locations?
2) If there are limits, what types of limits would the Town Council like to apply?
B. Review Process - Administrative versus Conditional Use Permit
Since the past discussion with the Town Council, staff have gained a better understanding of what the Virginia code does, and does not, require.
Staff’s refined understanding is that co-location of wireless facilities must be managed administratively; but that any new installation, of any height, may be managed as a special exception, which the Town of Vienna calls a “conditional use permit (CUP).” Neither of these types of proposals are bounded by the limit of 50 feet.
However, some local governments in Northern Virginia choose to allow administrative approval for all installations under 50 feet, even when they are not co-locations. Staff assume that the Town Council would want to have all tall towers be managed as CUPs, rather than be by-right projects that are only reviewed administratively.
Key Question for Council:
1) Does the Town Council wish to allow administrative approval for all installations under 50 feet, even when they are not co-locations, or does the Town Council prefer to have all Vienna proposals that the State allows to be CUPs be managed by Vienna as CUPs?
C. Review Process - Board of Architectural Review
At present, the Board of Architectural Review (BAR) reviews all proposed wireless installations.
Key Questions for Council:
1) Does the Town Council wish to continue BAR reviewing all applications?
2) Does the Town Council wish to distinguish between tall towers and shorter installations of antennas, perhaps by removing BAR from review of the projects that are lower 50 feet or when reviewed administratively? (In this case, standards could be developed working with the BAR.)
SUMMARY/STAFF IMPRESSIONS:
With the policy guidance from this discussion, staff will be prepared to return with draft language for a zoning amendment and for the Comprehensive Plan.
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommended Action
Staff recommend that the Town Council give guidance to staff on the policy questions presented, and on any other component related to wireless coverage.
Attachments:
01 - 2016 Comprehensive Plan - Encouraged Locations for Telecommunications Facilities.