Agenda - 09-12-2006-7a - Laserfiche WebLink

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8 Memorandum To: Craig N. Benedict, Planning Director From: Glenn R. Bowles, Planner II Date: August 30, 2006 Subject: BOCC request for information relating to the Piedmont Electric proposed replacement tower. At its August 22, 2006 meeting, the BOCC through a resolution, directed Planning Department staff to address environmental issues that might relate to the proposed Piedmont Electric replacement tower on NC Highway 57 South.. The issues include flight patterns of migratory birds, the number and distribution of similar towers in the County, and such other issues as might apply. Below, along with the attached map and ERCD memorandum, is the staff response to the BOCC inquiry. Bird Migration Researchers have estimated that four to five million migratory birds are killed annually after colliding with telecommunications towers. To put bird mortality rates in perspective and according to Audubon Society estimates, 10,000 to 40,000 birds die annually from collisions with wind turbines, sixty to eighty million birds collide with motor vehicles, and 98 million died after flying into plate glass windows. Local birders counted over 330 bird species in the Orange County area in 2002. Most of the local bird species are migratory and are potentially susceptible to the effects of telecommunication towers. Some of the more well known bird observation sites include the Bolin Creek Greenway, Cane Creek Reservoir, Dairyland Road, Few's Ford Access in the Eno River State Park, along the Eno River at Pleasant Green Road, Lake Orange, the Mason Farm Preserve, and University Lake; none are close to the Piedmont tower site. Piedmont's headquarters is not in any documented wildlife corridor, wetland, floodplain corridor, nor is the tower site within any stream buffer. Of the 227 species of migratory birds listed in documented telecommunication tower bird kills, the Chapel Hill Bird Club's inventory lists all but 28 Species found within Orange County represent 88% of all species documented in the tower kills, and over 97% of the total birds listed. Most migratory birds of North American migrate through Orange County or are commonly found within the area. Along major bird migration routes, a single telecommunication tower may account for as many as 3,000 migratory songbird deaths annually, according to recent studies. Documented bird death events range as high as 12,000 fatalities for a single event.