ORD-2006-105 - Piedmont Electric Membership Corporation (PEMC) Planned Development (PD-OI) and Special Use Permit, Class A

Browse Search

16D and in all probability the 800 MHz safety facilities would be attached, are so negligible that you would have several times more exposure to RF emissions standing within 10 or 15 feet of your microwave oven or sitting in front of your television: Craufurd Goodwin: Is it clear that the tower can withstand a category three or four hurricanes we're likely to see in the next few years? If it went down, how does it fall? Rusty Monroe: That's one of the things that we looked at very carefully- the structural integrity of the tower. That starts with the soils, what's called a geo -tech survey and analysis, and you work up from there. A lot of times the tower industry will like to tell you, "We've designed what's called a breakpoint," which means they over designed the bottom two- thirds, for example, and then. standard designed the top third so that there is a weak point at which it will break and supposedly fall within itself. That's just not the way towers fail, quite simply; especially if there's a fault, if you will, in the calculations based upon the soils or the foundation, or the foundation doesn't match the types of soil. There are about 400 towers a year that fail in this country on average. Most people are not aware of it. This.tower we feel.very confident was over designed. The bottom line is it was over designed. There is a breakpoint built in, but in reality, I don't see that as being an issue here. It would be a different design, for example, if it were to be built down on the Gulf Coast. And they have a PE signed off on it, our PE has verified their PE's calculations. Jay Bryan: When is the Planning Board expected to review this? s Craig Benedict: November 1 meeting. Jay Bryan: If the .Planning Board would like his and your appearance, would you be willing to come? Rusty Monroe: We're at your disposal. Geof Gledhill: Let me make the point that if there are questions that come up during the Planning Board's meeting, that those questions and the answers be brought back to the Board of County Commissioners' public hearing process so that they are in the record. They won't be in the record if the Planning Board has a conversation with the expert. Jay Bryan: Would that be presented in the minutes? Geof GIedhilI: I presume so, it may be necessary to have this man come back and confirm. Rusty Monroe: I would like to introduce one person, Jackie Hicks is with me, Jackie is our Director of the Mid - Atlantic region, she basically runs everything from Maryland down to Florida. So she may be the one that you're speaking with as opposed to me the next time. Someone asked if Ms. Hicks should be sworn in. Geof Gledhill: She could be sworn in at your next meeting and present that her statements were true at the Planning Board meeting. Jay Bryan: With regard to referring this to the Planning Board, could you instruct us? Geof Gledhill: What I would recommend is .that, when the matter is referred to the Planning Board, that the County Commissioners hold open this public hearing until the recommendation comes back to the Planning Board, and the only way to do that is to keep this public hearing alive, and that means that rather than the recommendation being that it be brought back no sooner than or later than, that in fact that it be brought back at a specific Board of County Commissioners' meeting. So the County Commissioners will keep this public hearing open for receipt of the Planning Board's recommendation along with any other evidence that may be pertinent or desirable on the part of the developer, including, for example, introduction of color photographs of the balloon test, if the applicant has those and wants to present those, so that they're meaningful.