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Telecommunications Tower facilities already exist and also pre-identified properties {"Pre-identified Properties") whose owners have expressed an interest in locating Telecommunications Towers in the future, subject to all Orange County Zoning Ordinance requirements. Craig Benedict said that the Boards have seen renditions of this since April 1999. The purpose of an MTP is to identify potential sites far telecommunications towers. Also, a pattern could be developed that fulfills public safety needs. There are 40 to 50 sites within the County. There are a lot of weaknesses in coverage in the County. The MTP is a guidance map with some potential sites far public sector and private sector purposes, but they would still have to go through the same approval process. There would be a meeting with the industry once a year to discuss the needs far the coming year. This would provide better opportunities to co-locate. Craig Benedict said that they have talked with the public in general about this in having public hearings and they have coordinated with County departments. They have also developed better coordination with the stakeholders (public sector departments and the private sector). He showed a picture of telecommunication facilities on existing power lines. They are still promoting this as a stealth facility. The industry has noted that they are willing to put tower attachments on other things that are unseen {silos, bell towers, etc.). At the Economic Development Commission meeting last week, the board voted to support the Master Telecommunications Plan. The staff suggests that the Board refer this to the Planning Board for the final recommendation, to be returned back to the Board of County Commissioners no sooner than August 17, 2004. PUBLIC COMMENT: Bob Hetterly lives an Thunder Mountain Road in Efland. He commented about the process far the special use permit. His neighborhood was involved in a class B special use permit last year. He entered into the record a short email that he sent to Commissioner Brown and Chair Jacobs. He said that they went through asix-month process. He read the email. In 2003, his neighbors were involved in opposing an application by AT&T Wireless for a special use permit to erect a cell tower in their neighborhood. They prepared comments and went to the public hearing before the Orange County Board of Adjustment to voice their opposition. They did not know that their comments would be considered useless. They came to learn that this was aquasi- judicial procedure and that they had little or no standing because they did not have legal counsel. They felt that the granting of this application would have adverse impacts on the values of their properties and the general quality of life in the area. The hearing was continued to the following month and in the interim they were able to engage legal counsel, licensed real estate appraisers, and engineers to assist in their opposition. The fees for these services amounted to thousands of dollars. They recognize that the County has hired a professional engineer to provide counsel and guidance regarding cell towers and they believe that this assistance is necessary and should be necessary to the Planning Department and the Board in the future. They think that there should be a way to more actively involve citizens who might be impacted by the application with the experts. The bottom line is that they feel that the special use permit application process is weighted in favor of deep-pocketed applicants and against the citizens of the County. They feel that citizens should have a way to have their voices heard without having to spend thousands of dollars in the process. With regard to the ordinance, they would suggest that the requirement to notify parties about a cell tower application be expanded beyond the 1,000 feet. He made reference to the standards for approval and said that only