Orange County NC Website
Approved 3113117 <br />1 Ben Levitan: Absolutely. Worst -case scenario that I can see is you put up a 27 to 30 -foot <br />2 monopole cell tower and you camouflage it as a tree. That's the most... otherwise I think this <br />3 probably, I haven't driven the whole area and I haven't done a site survey, but I believe just from <br />4 my general knowledge there's sufficient buildings, lampposts, utility posts, water towers that you <br />5 could use. And if you take the search ring 5 -miles there's plenty of existing cell towers already in <br />6 that search that could be focused towards providing this coverage. I don't see the necessity, I'm <br />7 talking from a technical point of view, I don't see... If I'm Verizon and I'm asked or one of my guys <br />8 brought me this design I would tell them no, go back to where from. <br />9 <br />10 Samantha Cabe: Let me ask you this. Does your opinion take into account that, essentially, <br />11 Verizon would have to get permission from somebody to put these, whatever kind of cell tower it <br />12 is, whether it's the tall one, the medium one, or the small cell? Essentially they can't put anything <br />13 where someone's not willing to lease them the property or allow them to? <br />14 <br />15 Ben Levitan: Verizon has a department that does nothing but manage landlords. Every cell phone <br />16 company does. And that's all they do. They go out and.... Yeah, so I mean, this is part of the <br />17 business. I mean, they're sitting here trying to... just as they have to sit here and get permission <br />18 from the city to do that, it's part of the business. <br />19 <br />20 Matt Hughes: So in your expert opinion, why would TowerCom and Verizon want to go this route? <br />21 <br />22 Ben Levitan: I'm not privy to... Either they've just made a mistake, I don't... For me, looking at <br />23 this, I cannot see why you would design it this way. I just don't see it. I don't think it's going to be <br />24 cheaper. I can't speculate. <br />25 <br />26 Matt Hughes: Were you here at the last hearing? <br />27 <br />28 Ben Levitan: Oh yes, until 11:35. <br />29 <br />30 Matt Hughes: So you heard their expert go through what they were considering, why it wasn't <br />31 appropriate, and... <br />32 <br />33 Ben Levitan: The bottom line is if you look at this chart, this solution doesn't fix the problem. You <br />34 want Mount Carmel Church Road to have coverage just like 15 -501. Why would you put this up if <br />35 it's not going to solve your problem? I heard everything you said but it doesn't solve the problem. <br />36 <br />37 Matt Hughes: Remind me on this, up here... Where's 15 -501? <br />38 <br />39 Ben Levitan: You see that? See how nicely that's... <br />40 <br />41 Matt Hughes: I'm not as familiar with below the UNC Campus area. <br />42 <br />43 Ben Levitan: I agree with you, of course. That's a heavily trafficked road. And so the coverage is <br />44 real good. Mount Carmel Church Road I can tell you all the carriers. I researched all the carriers <br />45 and what their coverage is like on that road. It's all similar, kind of low. But the fact is, the fact that <br />46 they all have not put in improvements just shows that it's not a priority. It's a low cell phone traffic <br />47 road. What's there is probably sufficient for everybody. Certainly AT &T said yeah, that's sufficient. <br />48 Sprint has said the coverage we have there is sufficient. <br />49 <br />OC Board of Adjustment — 12/12/16 Page 110 of 156 <br />