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<br />Renee Price Saunders: I was just wondering, because it seems like it is a public <br />meeting, but this is the wrong process. <br />Craig Benedict: I can explain the process. The open verbal forum is tonight. Written <br />testimony can still occur between tonight's meeting and be submitted to the Planning Board as <br />further testimony to address the issues that the County Attorney brought up concerning issues <br />of testimony regarding public necessity, or if not, maintenance of property values. So all of that <br />information is still open to be submitted in writing, though, prior to the Planning Board hearing it, <br />or any other testimony that may come forward. The Administration recommendation here is for <br />the Commissioners to refer this back to the Planning Board to be returned back to the Board of <br />County Commissioners no sooner than December 4th, which means the timeline we had put in <br />this package was to have it on the agenda for the December 4, 2QQ6 meeting. <br />Commissioner Gordon: I would like to have our consultant come up and be sworn in <br />and I would like to ask him a couple of questions. <br />Lawrence Monroe {Rusty) was sworn In. <br />Commissioner Gordon: I just wanted to retake up some of the questions that Planning <br />Board member Wagner asked about the effects on migratory birds and also the effects on the <br />community population in the vicinity of such a tower. <br />Rusty Monroe: One of the recommendations that our company made as a <br />recommended condition was for the lighting that will be on this tower to be shielded. People are <br />aware of the fact that the lighting only has to be seen from above or by airplanes, and there are <br />a couple of different ways of doing it. We've recommended that all lighting on this tower be <br />shielded, in large part because of that issue to reduce the attractiveness as well as, very <br />candidly, to reduce the nuisance factor of what is called ground scatter effect of the lighting. <br />The report that was submitted on the effects of aviary wildlife is negative or negligible. We have <br />no concerns, and the report had raised no concerns. We've been able to find no experts in the <br />field who know evidence of any concern. It would be much more of a concern if there were <br />guide wires attached. That's primarily where the biggest danger to aviary wildlife comes from <br />are the guide wires on guide towers. <br />Commissioner Gordon: What about the effect on the population, the question of the <br />emissions and the effects on the human population with this proposal? <br />Rusty Monroe: We have to be very careful when it comes to radio frequency <br />emissions. The FCC has effectively preempted that entire area and said that no one may <br />enforce those other than the FCC, nor may anyone establish any different standards than the <br />FCC has. We could argue all day long whether those are adequate or not, but they are the law <br />at this point. However, local government has been charged with the authority, if you will, to <br />verify compliance with those regulations prior to the establishment at any time during the <br />operation of it. One of the recommended conditions in this is that it be regularly tested for <br />emissions. That having been said, I will tell you that the FCC also has a policy that any facility <br />such as this, or a cellular facility, or a paging facility, or any of the other services that use radio <br />frequency, if it is located on a tower and it is mare than 1Q meters above the ground, it is <br />deemed what is called categorically excluded. We may ar may not agree with that, but they're <br />saying, by definition that it is safe and presents no danger to the public. The numbers are such <br />that the RF emissions for something such as this facility at the height that Piedmont Electric is <br />proposing to attach, and in all probability the 8QQ MHz safety facilities would be attached, are so <br />negligible that you would have several times more exposure to RF emissions standing within 10 <br />or 15 feet of your microwave oven ar sitting in front of your television. <br />Craufurd Goodwin: Is it clear that the tower can withstand a category three or four <br />hurricanes we're likely to see in the next few years? If it went down, how does it fall? <br />Rusty Monroe: That's one of the things that we looked at very carefully- the structural <br />integrity of the tower. That starts with the soils, what's called a geo-tech survey and analysis, <br />and you work up from there. A lot of times the tower industry will like to tell you, "We've <br />