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OC Board of Adjustment – 6/8/2015 Page 46 of 68 Tom Johnson: But you are saying that prohibition…saying that is the standard but it’s not. 1 2 Beth Bega: This is my opinion. I am not trying to fight a fed eral or state law here in a recommendation report. This is 3 my recommendation to the county and to Michael Harvey. I am not trying to play attorney. 4 5 Tom Johnson: When did I get this report? 6 7 Beth Bega: Friday. 8 9 Tom Johnson: During the day today when I got your report. 10 11 Larry Wright: Final arguments. 12 13 Tom Johnson: I’m going to summarize where we started. We started with going over the fact that this is a quasi -14 judicial committee. That is important because you have to distinguish what is happening here with the special use 15 permit versus a zoning matter. This Board of Adjustment is constitute d in a different way than a planning board and I 16 heard the name planning board mentioned by some of the opponents. This is a quasi-judicial proceeding where we 17 have to present evidence. That is why we have our experts because we have to present that evidence, we have to 18 bring that board to meet the requirements of the board. In the same fashion, this board has to look at the law and the 19 fact making their determinations and not lay opinions on matters that are not presented by evidence. That is the key 20 difference. As we mentioned earlier there are some key points to be made from the ordinance itself. First, let’s look at 21 the general conditions. For the use will maintain or promote the public health, safety and general welfare. Again, it is 22 accepted in the land use goals that this county has already adopted plus the intent statement that I read in the 23 beginning of the ordinance that this type of service is important to the public health, safety and general welfare of the 24 community. Providing these adequate services. Efficient, effective public safety which includes telecommunications. 25 Expansion of affordable high speed internet access providing reliable notif ication of oversight or emergency access. 26 That is all in the staff report, I didn’t do this. Your staff prepared this and reminded us that those are some land use 27 goals within the ordinance itself. The use will maintain or enhance the value of contagious property. Again, the only 28 testimony from an expert was from our expert about the impact on property values and you cannot do it on the site itself 29 but you can go to another site. There you have got a lattice tower that even by the admission of the oppone nts own 30 attorney with the ___ if visible from some of those locations and the comparison was between those lots where it was 31 visible and those where it was not and the expert came to the conclusion there was not difference in those values. That 32 the values would be maintained and not be harmed. Spent a lot of time here about harmony. I do want to speak about 33 what state law says about harmony and the staff in its report alludes to this as well on page 58. There are concerns 34 expressed in the telecommunication towers are not appropriate for development in the rural buffer zoning district. The 35 thing is under your ordinance towers are a permitted use subject to the special use permit in the rural buffer district. 36 That is what North Carolina law says. It is presumed to be harmony if the jurisdiction allows it as a use in the district. 37 This is allowed as a use in the district therefore, by definition it is in harmony and all you are hearing is that it is in a 38 rural buffer but the commissioners by opting the U DO said in a rural buffer, it is appropriate but carry it a step further, 39 look at the character of this area and you look at the fact there is a ___ facility across the street, there is a school 40 across the street, there is a large one story apartment build ing across the street. There are major subdivisions that are 41 in very close proximity us like a lot of areas you see around the area and other parts of the country. The growth is 42 coming, it is urban growth, this is an urban area that is growing into the r ural area. That is just the way it is. It’s not the 43 tower that is doing that. It is the subdivisions that have come, it’s the subdivision, the school, the nursing center that 44 has come to this area. You know what is more important to me. You have a ver y experienced staff that has been very 45 involved in this whole process. We have gone back and forth with correspondence to get to the point getting the 46 answers so far as us showing how it meets the ordinance. We have been back and forth with Mr. Harvey on numerous 47 occasions. The key point to me is on page 124 and he has got years of experience but on page 124 this is what is said 48 in his report. Staff has reviewed the application, the site plan and all supporting documentation and has found that the 49 applicant complies with the specific standards with the required regulations as outlined in the UDO. I didn’t not see that 50