Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
3 <br /> Task Force, and upon the conclusion of work of the Task <br /> Force, will make its results available to the member <br /> jurisdictions. Durham City/County adopted a three- <br /> month moratorium on new towers in March, 1995 for the <br /> purpose of considering possible ordinance amendments to <br /> minimize the number and impact of towers. At the <br /> April Meeting of the Durham - Chapel Hill Work Group, <br /> representatives of the Town of Chapel Hill expressed <br /> concern that a moratorium in one jurisdiction could <br /> result in an adjoining jurisdiction getting more than <br /> its share of tower applications, particularly in areas <br /> near jurisdictional boundaries. <br /> Concern with the increasing number of telecommunication <br /> towers extends beyond the Triangle. The Planning <br /> Advisory Service (PAS) of the American Planning <br /> Association has received requests for information <br /> concerning telecommunications towers from a number of <br /> jurisdictions. Orange County is a subscriber to the <br /> PAS, and as such pays annual dues to receive and <br /> request information on specific topics of interest or <br /> concern. The PAS is in the process of preparing a <br /> report which will provide guidance in developing <br /> regulation pertaining to telecommunications towers, by <br /> taking into account both aesthetic and technological <br /> issues. Publication and distribution of the report is <br /> expected to occur in the Fall of 1995. <br /> Options to Address Concerns <br /> Any further changes to the County's regulations <br /> pertaining to towers would require a Zoning Ordinance <br /> text amendment. The earliest possible date that any <br /> amendments could be presented would be the quarterly <br /> public hearing which is scheduled for August 30, 1995. <br /> The next possible date would be the November 30, 1995 <br /> public hearing. <br /> The current regulations include provisions to encourage <br /> multiple users on towers, as a means of slowing the <br /> increase in their numbers. Any additional provisions <br /> would require significant research into tower <br /> technology in order to integrate technological <br /> constraints and aesthetic concerns. Useful and <br /> reliable information which could be used to develop <br /> effective regulations is limited at this time. <br /> Planning Staff has had to rely largely on input from <br /> individual telecommunications companies to gain some <br /> understanding of the details of communication <br /> technology. A more comprehensive and unbiased <br /> understanding of telecommunication tower technology is <br /> needed in order to develop regulations which are <br /> responsive to concerns of both the public and the <br /> telecommunications industry. <br />