Orange County NC Website
Approved 7/8/2013 <br />OC Board of Adjustment – 6/10/2013 Page 7 of 92 <br />Comprehensive Plan. As I mentioned we have met all the specific requirements of the ordinance and 1 <br />that has been the opinion of the county’s consultant, CMS, as well. It is also clear that when a county 2 <br />adopts an ordinance and allows a particular usage, such as a telecommunications tower, to be a 3 <br />special use in a zoning district such as here, the AR zoning district, that creates a presumption or 4 <br />case that the telecommunications use is in harmony with the area in which it will be located so we 5 <br />have by virtue of it being a special use in the ordinance, the telecommunications tower is in harmony 6 <br />with the area. We have provided information in addition to that to show the visibility of the towers will 7 <br />be minimal and it will not be an environmental hazard or a nuisance. Therefore, we have met all 8 <br />specific requirements of the ordinance and all the general requirements for special uses and David 9 <br />Smith who is the appraiser is here to speak briefly. I don’t know if there is any concern or opposition 10 <br />to this application and if not… 11 <br /> 12 <br />Karen Barrows: How far is this tower going to be from the Caldwell Fire Department? 13 <br /> 14 <br />Karen Kemerait: I don’t know where the Caldwell Fire Department tower is. 15 <br /> 16 <br />Karen Barrows: It is not very far. I looked at your legend distance. It is probably a mile and one half. 17 <br /> 18 <br />Michael Harvey: It is actually two miles. There is no tower on the property. If you will turn to tab 14 19 <br />of the applicant’s packet, we have the telecommunication plan map sites. Orange County has 20 <br />adopted a Master Telecommunication Plan for use as a marketing tool in terms of trying to solicit the 21 <br />use and development in these particular locations. Caldwell Fire Department has indicated their 22 <br />interest but there is no current tower on that site and this site or the proposed site, as we alluded to in 23 <br />our abstract actually addresses a hole that Caldwell can’t. I know AT&T and American Tower looked 24 <br />at the Caldwell site; there still would have been a hole in this particular area of the county. They 25 <br />chose to try to fill that hole recognizing that there could be a tower one day on Caldwell through 26 <br />participation of this administration plan. 27 <br /> 28 <br />Larry Wright: You talked in terms of co-location on the tower and you spoke in terms of Verizon or 29 <br />some other carrier co-locating on that tower and then in the packet, there is wording to the point that 30 <br />other county agencies, such as emergencies could locate on that tower. Given there is only x amount 31 <br />of room for panels to be installed on that tower, is there any priority to who may be given space on 32 <br />that tower over others? 33 <br /> 34 <br />Karen Kemerait: We have already committed to providing space on the tower for county purposes 35 <br />and when an application would come from another carrier, it would be considered, to make sure that 36 <br />there would be room for it and be considered in. Jill, is there anything you would like to add? 37 <br /> 38 <br />Jill House: I am Jill House, I am with American Tower. It is generally our policy to accept the 39 <br />applications on a first come first serve basis. If the county expresses interest and that is a condition 40 <br />of approval certainly space could be allotted to them. 41 <br /> 42 <br />David Blankfard: Is there any agreement right now for county services on the pole? 43 <br /> 44 <br />Jill House: Not a blanket agreement. 45 <br /> 46 <br />Michael Harvey: Let me answer a little bit. The county can’t negotiate or enter into any kind of 47 <br />negotiation with a tower that doesn’t legally have a permit so we have not approached or been 48 <br />approached. We cannot proceed because then obviously it can be argued that we are doing this 49 <br />solely to get the site, which is not the case. There is a condition on page 96 indicating that co-50 <br />location site shall be offered to the County for the placement of an antenna in support of local 51 <br />emergency communication needs. If it is determined that it is not necessary or viable then they have 52 <br />met their obligation under provisions of the special use permit. If it is approved, the county can reject 53