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sip-44 2002 02:17PM <br />FROM- PENNINGTON AND LOTT <br />i <br />+18039291075 T -379 P.008/008 F -403 <br />78 <br />4. VISUALLY INTRUSIVE REQUIREMENTS. Section 6.18.4.b. Page 9. <br />This is ' an additional requirement. This new standard dictates that <br />towers be located in heavily treed areas to the extent possible. This is <br />fine as long as the search area contains a wooded tract with a willing <br />property owner that has access to a public right of way. There will be <br />locations in certain settings where there will be no surrounding <br />wooded vegetation to provide a natural cover. This is a given. Some <br />of these areas will be industrial or commercial settings where it makes <br />sense to have a communications tower. Be aware of this fact. Not all <br />towers can be hidden in the trees. <br />The second sentence of this section* is most troubling. This sentence, <br />regardless of vegetation, requires the applicant to prove that the <br />proposed communications tower will not be visually intrusive to <br />surrounding properties in the area. This Is an Impossible standard. <br />This is such a subjective standard that there. Is no way an applicant <br />can ever be successful in a hearing to the extent there is opposition. <br />First, what Is the definition of "visually intrusive"? If this means that <br />the communications tower is not visible, then the Ordinance is on its <br />face in violation of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Verizon <br />Wireless cannot provide effective wireless coverage and capacity with <br />communications towers that are not visible from adjacent and <br />surrounding properties. This is a physical Impossibility, and the <br />Ordinance will. have the effect of prohibiting the provision of wireless <br />communications services in violation of federal law. <br />The better way to approach this Issue is to require objective standards <br />which can be evaluated and met. - Verizon Wireless cannot build <br />invisible communications towers, but it can use good sound judgment <br />In the selection of a site and the placement of the communications <br />tower on the site such that it is least visible and has the least visual <br />Impact on surrounding properties. Such objective standards include <br />the following types of things: <br />a. Limiting the height of the proposed communications <br />tower. <br />b. Limiting the type of communications tower that can be <br />used. <br />C. Regulating the distance and separation requirements of <br />the communications tower from an adjacent property line <br />or from a residential use. <br />d. Regulating the distance and separation requirement of the <br />communications tower from a public right of way. <br />