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DRAFT OC Board of Adjustment – 11/9/15 Page 5 of 156 it is to build a tower. And it’s also much cheaper to co-locate than it is to build a tower. So it’s the 1 preference to co-locate. Unfortunately, within this search area there were not existing towers and 2 there were not existing other structures as sufficient in height to meet that network objective that I 3 discussed earlier. Now, in addition to there not being other structures to co-locate on Orange 4 County Planning Department brought to our attention an additional candidate. There was another 5 candidate that the Planning Department brought to our attention. They call it the Mellot Candidate. 6 My understanding is that the property owner for that site is their last name is Mellot. And so they 7 asked Verizion Wireless, “Can you put your facility here and meet your network objective?” 8 Verizon Wireless was happy to do that, they analyzed it, and the results of that analysis is that this 9 candidate could not meet the network objective. And what this is, it shows… David Haughney, the 10 engineer for Verizon Wireless, is here to explain this a little bit better. But essentially the distance 11 between the Mellot candidate and the proposed Clearwater Lake site, there is a topography and 12 foliage obstruction that makes it so that Verizon would not be able to meet it’s network objective at 13 this proposed site. So given that there were no opportunities to co-locate and we could not go on 14 this Mellot candidate a need for a new tower at the subject property was determined. In terms of 15 the proposed tower it would be a 195 foot monopole with a 4-foot lightning rod. This is the tower 16 design that was shown in the application. As you can see here, it will be a monopole structure 17 which means it will not be lattice. I don’t know if you’re familiar with the 3-leg lattice structure, it will 18 not have big lines that go out from the tower. Also, it will not be lit and it will be… The type of pole 19 that they use for these monopoles is the same type of pole they use for power lines, it’s just taller. 20 But that’s what you can expect. It’s galvanized steel. It will be designed to accommodate 3 future 21 co-locators as required by the ordinance. So that means this is going to reduce the need for 22 towers in this area, and when this is implemented it won’t only help Verizon Wireless’ customers, 23 it will not only help the Orange County residents in this area who have Verizon, it will also help the 24 residents who have AT&T, Tmobile, to the extent that they come and co-locate on this tower. And 25 again, it will be a requirement that any carriers that want to go in this area, they will have to prove 26 an inability to co-locate on this tower. So they will have to first try to co-locate on this tower. There 27 are 3 findings of fact that this Board must consider in determining to grant this SUP and we have 28 addressed those findings of fact in pages 59-64 of the narrative, which is exhibit 1. I just wanted to 29 briefly go over a few of those points with you here tonight. The first finding of fact that the Board 30 must consider is whether the use will maintain or promote the public health, safety, and welfare. 31 So there’s two ways that this use will promote good public health, safety, and welfare. First, it’s a 32 public necessity and second, it will follow and be in compliance with all applicable Federal, State, 33 and Local regulations. As to the first part of it being a public necessity, the reason this is a public 34 necessity is currently almost half of American households are wireless only households. And that 35 number is only increasing. That means that for about half of Americans, their only means of 36 communicating by phone is on their cell phone. So they need that wireless service on a day to day 37 basis. That becomes even more crucial in an emergency situation. If your only way of 38 communication is on a cell phone you need that wireless coverage in the event of an emergency. 39 And then that goes both ways as well. The wireless coverage not only helps for people making a 40 911 call but it helps the emergency responders be able to respond to those emergency phone 41 calls. Wireless service also aids in public responders in other ways. For example, police officers 42 have computers in their cars. They’re using those computers and they’re using wireless service to 43 access things like criminal records, driving records, or warrants for arrest. So that’s crucial for 44 them to have in their vehicles. And they rely on wireless for that. The second finding of fact that 45 the Board must consider is whether the use will maintain or enhance the value of contiguous 46 property. Unless the use is a public necessity then there’s no need to enhance or maintain the 47 property value. Now I’ve just discussed with you how this will be a public necessity. However, in 48 addition to that Towercom has retained David Smith. He’s a North Carolina certified real estate 49 appraiser MAI and SRA, he has prepared a report that was submitted as Exhibit 32 of the 50 7