Minutes 02-28-2011 - Laserfiche WebLink

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3. Adjoum hearing to the April 5, 2011 regular meeting for action by the Commissioners. It should be noted that there is no action required by the Planning Board on this item. Commissioner Jacobs asked why there were no self-imposed conditions. Craig Benedict said that it is not a requirement of the Master Telecommunications Plan to have self-imposed conditions. The fire stations do not have to do a balloon test. He said that this is a separate item for when the County is a participant. Commissioner Jacobs made reference to the minutes from December 14th and said that the motion specifically said to ask staff to bring to the public hearing criteria which the County would apply to its own site. He asked if reading it aloud at the public hearing was considered bringing it to the public hearing, or if it is putting it in the material that the public sees. Craig Benedict said that he would bring back a resolution to the Board with self-imposing criteria at the second meeting in May. Brian Crawford made reference to Commissioner Gordon's recommendation at the beginning of the meeting and said that the staff recommendation did not include a Planning Board action. He asked what she wanted the Planning Board to review. Commissioner Gordon said that it would be important for the Planning Board to read the portions of Section 6.18 related to this discussion. The question has to do with the difference in the process that a person must follow when applying for permission to build a telecommunications tower. Is it a special use permit process or not, is there a balloon test, etc. With respect to the process, what is the significance of a site being placed on the MTP map. She made reference to page 356 and the criteria for ranking sites. Craig Benedict said that this is a policy issue and it is not what is being reviewed tonight. This is not a regulation change that is being requested. The request is to use an element of the existing code. Discussion ensued with Brian Crawford and Commissioner Gordon about the private sites. Commissioner Foushee asked about the process of private properties enrolling and how property owners would know that the County was considering enrolling the properties. Craig Benedict said that the intent to have a master plan has been advertised over the years and the property owners have had the ability to fill out an application to be part of the plan. This is the first phase and other property owners will be accepted in the next phase. There have been no exclusions in the applicants. Commissioner Yuhasz said that the ordinance is not being changed. He read the second bullet point on page 355. "Any tower less than 150 feet in height on which the owner of such facility permits the County to co-locate its wireless facilities on a structure, etc., as determined at the sole discretion of the County; those towers do not have to go through the balloon test." Therefore, any private site that is designated on this map does not have to go through the balloon test. PUBLIC COMMENT: Tony Blake said that he is President of the White Cross Fire Department and there is a hole with cell tower coverage and they support this on their site. He said that some of the 911 calls come in on cell phones and it is important to have coverage in this area.