Orange County NC Website
give to the Commissioner Gordon. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis said that he was under the impression that the University had their own <br />paging system on a tower at the University complex so he is not sure how all this fits into the issue at hand. <br />Mr. Winston T. Morgan, general certified appraiser, distributed information. He said that one of <br />the most difficult things to address is the impact on value of something which is not there yet. That's probably <br />very difficult and especially when you are talking about a 235-foot tower, but one of the ways of addressing it <br />is looking at other subdivisions where you have an impact from some type of tower. When he was asked to <br />do a study locally, one of the questions was to find residential dwellings around it and are there any in <br />Orange County. The main ones he can think of in Orange County are the three 1100-foot+ towers out at <br />Turkey Run on Jones Ferry Road. He read the letter on the front of the Impact Study. Again, when you are <br />looking at the Bingham Township and you are looking at Greenfield and the impact on it, it was developed <br />back in 1977 into a 19-lot single family subdivision and it is a large lot subdivision without water and sewer. <br />The structure price range is between $112,000 to $135,000 to $138,000 and attached to that is another <br />document which has listing sales from our Triangle MLS that shows Greenfield and then Turkey Run. Mr. <br />Morgan said that when looking at the southern portion of Bingham Township in or near Orange County, the <br />only thing he found that would compare with the Greenfield area were the three towers on Jones Ferry Road. <br />There are three towers. One is 1,000 feet. One was put up in the early 1950s and that is with the <br />construction of the UNC public TV tower. There was one put up in 1984 by the Villages Company as a radio <br />tower. There is no way to measure on Greenfield as to impact or not impact. Going through an extraction <br />method is the only way they can do it to try to bring it in as near a comparable of something that is out there <br />and exists today. He showed slides of the three towers on Jones Ferry Road. He showed on a map other <br />towers which are over 1,000 feet tall. He distributed information on value and said that the location of the <br />towers on Jones Ferry Road has not had an impact on value. Because the strobe lights from these towers <br />which are located behind these houses have not hindered their sale and resale, he does not think that a <br />235-foot tower is going to impact value on the houses in Greenfield. The other thing to look at is that the <br />Board approved in 1977 the tower for The Villages and the Special Use Permit. He stated that In the 1950s, <br />60s and 70s there was a lot less development in that area. Most of the houses in that area have been built <br />after those towers were there. He invited the County Commissioners to drive out and see the lights and <br />draw their own conclusion. He said that the County's public records indicate that there has been no decrease <br />in value in that property as a result of those 1100-foot towers that are lighted and as a result he will draw the <br />conclusion that a 235-foot tower will not impact the values in Greenfield. <br />Carolyn Briggs with Gearon Communications made reference to the lighting and said that the <br />type of lighting that they are using is the minimum lighting required by the FAA. It is designed by Flash <br />Technology and designed for structures moving into residential areas. It is white during the day and red <br />on/off during the night. However, there is no longer the old fashion red scatter lights down below. The <br />particular lighting is focused above a 10 degree horizontal for aviation obstruction purposes and below that <br />the lighting drops off to about 1 %, so the effect from it is about the same as what a 40-watt red bulb would <br />have in a distance. The impact of those lights has been significantly reduced for these purposes. They feel <br />this is an excellent site. It is as far off of Highway 54 as they can go. They are trying to bury it in the trees <br />and get as far away from residential areas as possible. They wanted to find an area that would meet the <br />requirements of the ordinance and would have the least visible impact in the area. The technology is growing <br />rapidly and carriers need a place to put their antennas. They would be able to put all carriers on one <br />structure. They have been able to piggyback on this structure. They have other carriers that are very <br />interested in this area and also need to have coverage in the area. The only alternate location that would <br />meet the requirements is on OWASA property near NC 54 and there are residences immediately behind that <br />property with little or no vegetation. <br />Gary Phillips said that he was asked by the people on Greenfield Road to first analyze the impact <br />study, second to determine if there were other circumstances, other property similar to this that we might <br />draw some inferences from and third to analyze the project in connection with the specific zoning articles that <br />apply. With reference to the impact study, he said that both are seriously flawed. There are only two ways <br />to look at the impact of adjacent property and the potential impact on value and that is to compare sales <br />analysis or to use before and after appraisals. The impact study basically says that real estate values have