Agenda - 04-01-2014 - 6a - Laserfiche WebLink

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5 1 He said the biggest concern is that the County has a graduated permitting process for 2 telecommunication facilities. The Board of adjustment reviews towers between 76 and 199 3 feet, and the County Commissioners review tower requests of 200 feet or higher, which have 4 additional setback and lighting requirements. He said the attempt is to guard against someone 5 coming in with a 199 foot tall existing tower and then elevating it to 209 feet without the County 6 Commissioners having to review it. He said this is what the language on page 13 does. 7 Commissioner Dorosin asked for clarification about the thresholds. 8 Michael Harvey said if you have a 180 feet tower and you add 15 feet to it, this will fall 9 within the exemption and will not be considered a modification. He said the telecommunications 10 provider will still have to show compliance with all facets of the County code; however, the 11 County cannot require a special use permit. 12 Commissioner Dorosin clarified that the same would be true if someone has a 220 foot 13 tall tower and wants to go up another 10 percent. 14 Michael Harvey said this is correct. 15 Commissioner Dorosin asked if John Roberts feels this is rational and defensible. 16 John Roberts said that is the planning department's position, and since there is no case 17 law on this it may be defensible. 18 Michael Harvey said the County bears the burden of proving that a substantial 19 modification needs more review. He said it is not an all or nothing issue, and all determinations 20 are made by staff and are appealable. 21 Commissioner Dorosin questioned the fact that this is a second public hearing, but the 22 public cannot speak. 23 John Roberts said the ordinance states that the second public hearing is for the 24 planning board recommendation and written comments only. He said the first public hearing is 25 for oral comments only. 26 Commissioner Dorosin said it is a bit of a misnomer to call this a public hearing. 27 28 A motion was made by Commissioner McKee, seconded by Commissioner Price to: 29 30 1. Receive the Planning Board's recommendation; 31 2. Close the public hearing; and 32 3. Approve the text amendment package contained in Attachment 2. 33 34 VOTE: UNANIMOUS 35 36 Chair Jacobs noted that at agenda review the Board asked staff to let the 37 Commissioners know about upcoming telecommunication towers even if the towers are not 38 coming up for review. He said the Board still gets emails and calls from the public about this, 39 and it is good to be informed to respond. 40 41 42 6. Consent Agenda 43 44 Removal of Any Items from Consent Agenda 45 Items 6-h, 6-i, and 6-j were pulled from the consent agenda for discussion. 46 47 Approval of Remaining Consent Agenda 48 49 A motion was made by Commissioner McKee, seconded by Commissioner Rich to 50 approve the remaining items on the consent agenda.