As 5G service starts to pop up in Warren County, City of Warren staff have proposed regulations to govern where the infrastructure needed to provide that service can go.

Randy Rossey, city director of codes and planning, told the Warren City Council on Monday that the regulations need to be updated “as technology advances” in order to “accurately address current practices.”

He said that if there aren’t regulations in place there will be “no recourse to prevent wireless providers” from placing equipment “wherever they choose.” He called it in the “best interest of property owners” to put the regulations in place.

The council demurred on Monday, calling for a joint meeting with the Planning Commission and special counsel hired to craft these regulations.

Rossey told the Planning Commission on Wednesday morning that the change to the ordinance is the “5G portion being added.”

“This is a very lucrative business,” Commission chair Angie Dart said of the placement of these facilities. “These contracts are very lucrative.”

Dart said the companies often go to poor neighborhoods where “people don’t understand the risks or the liabilities of having one of them on their property. (They) just see the dollars.”

She said the draft regulations provided appear “dated from the ’90s. There are more modern versions out there. … This is more of a utility now. These things should be negotiated on municipal property. The income could go back into gilding infrastructure.”

The “ordinance does very little to protect real property owners in Warren,” she said.

Commission member Randy Gustafson raised concerns about the draft regulations appearing to prohibit placement of these facilities in the downtown historic district which, he said, may be the most logical location.

The draft “does little to protect our interests,” Dart said.