BOA minutes 060815 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

OC Board of Adjustment – 6/8/2015 Page 37 of 68 South Africa, Switzerland, England and the United States. Locally, I worked for the architectural firm of Archie Royal 1 Davis, AIA in Durham and for the firm of _____, AIA in Chapel Hill. Projects I worked on included the Durham County 2 office and Crabtree Valley Mall in Raleigh. I was engaged in these and many other architectural projects for a period of 3 five years. Then I focused on educational work, helping to found the Emerson Wald orf School in Chapel Hill and 4 designing its first buildings. Presently I consult on campus development. I believe that my training in architecture and 5 city planning as well as the international travel I have done to famous sites qualifies to me to offer a professional 6 opinion on whether something is harmonious, visually appropriate or well planned. I lived in ___ a quarter from the 7 proposed site of the cell tower and pass it daily. Careful zoning to date has preserved the rural character of this area. 8 All who drive through this rural beautiful area have appreciated the horse farm on the corner of Mt. Sinai and K erley 9 Roads. It has added to the unique rural, agricultural character of this farm of the rural buffer. Leaving it unchanged 10 would add to the richness of the rural experience not only for the residences but for all who pass this way in search of 11 nature and solitude. After all, the idea of the rural buffer zone was designed to protect residences and visitors alike 12 from such visual intrusions as cell towers. From an aesthetic point of view, this cell tower would be total out of keeping 13 with the rural character of the area. There are almost no trees on the Mt. Sinai Road property and the tower would be 14 completely visible from the road and would degrade the view at the cross roads. Since we are on the border of Duke 15 Forest, thousands of people from Durham and elsewhere come to this area for a rural experience. They come to ride 16 horses, to pick strawberries, or just stroll through the forest. The proposed placement of a 129 foot cell tower would 17 profoundly degrade this experience. 129 foot tower is as hig h as a 12 story building. Apparently it is to be surrounded 18 by a 60 foot by 60 foot solid wood fence, eight feet high with 3 strands of barbed wire on top. This construction is most 19 likely to remind one of a prison compound. The tower would be totally v isible from Mt. Sinai and from the corner where 20 Mt. Sinai meets Kerley and where there are absolutely no trees. I think of five towers within a five mile radius of this 21 proposed tower and each one is tucked away and discreetly hidden in well established w ooded areas off of minor 22 roads. This proposal is totally exposed with no possibility whatsoever of hiding the tower or the 3600 square foot base. 23 There is also a very loud humming noise which would integrate form the equipment coming from the base of the tower. 24 25 Tom Johnson: I object to that unless there is a basis for that. 26 27 Eve Olive: A lot of towers do hum but maybe your tower would not hum which would be an improvement. The 28 application states that the proposed cell tower is in an open field. The ap plication then goes on to state that the existing 29 trees and terrain do an excellent job of hiding the proposed tower. This statement is wildly inaccurate. There are only 30 five trees along this southern boundary or approximately 450 feet. This meets that the nursing home residents across 31 the road currently have a charming view of the horses in the pasture. It is greatly valued view. Those patients who are 32 able to roll themselves upfront in their wheel chairs and visitors wheel them to see the horses in t he pasture across the 33 road. We would like to think they would never have to look at a cell tower instead or at something that resembles as 34 prison enclosure. Recently a drunk driver careened right through the horse pasture fence and into the field where i t is 35 proposed to locate the tower. If the car had struck the wooden fence and burst into flames, he could have had a very 36 dangerous situation on our hands. This is another reason for locating the tower in a less exposed location and away 37 from a heavily traveled road. I have reviewed the application and see that the vast majority of this search ring lies 38 within Durham County. It seems reasonable that Durham County bear the burden of siting this tower since that is 39 where the vast majority of the search ring lies. Furthermore, I did not notice any discussion in the application of an 40 alternative location on the American Tower site at 5266 Kerley Road. Related to the American Tower site, I did not see 41 any reference in the application to raising the height of the existing tower at Kerley Road if indeed the tower height is 42 affected that remains co-location. The Orange County Unified Development Ordinance requires that applicant 43 demonstrate the proposed tower is the least visually intrusive alternative. I wou ld hazard to guess that rather being the 44 least visually intrusive alternative that it is the most visually intrusive proposal that this planning board has ever been 45 asked to consider. It feels as those this area is under an arsenal to be turned into a utility cluster with a visually 46 intrusive siting of the proposed cell tower in addition to the existing cell tower at 5266 Kerley just ___ there is no doubt 47 that the citing of this cell tower will have an adverse effect on property values in the area as well. I am speaking as an 48 architecture and a property owner. This area is legally designated as a rural buffer. We ask the planning board to 49 recognize the visually intrusive nature of this proposal. We ask the planning board to recognize the resulting 50