Orange County NC Website
Approved 7/8/2013 <br />OC Board of Adjustment – 6/10/2013 Page 78 of 92 <br /> 1 <br />I want to move on to one comment that I have heard from Mr. Harvey about concerns about not 2 <br />having enough notice from some of the neighbors. I wanted to point out that there has been a 3 <br />significant amount of notice that has been provided. There has been more than two months in which 4 <br />we have been providing notice about the proposed tower and that has been ample time for the 5 <br />neighbors to learn about what we have proposed and be prepared for the hearing. The first notice 6 <br />was over two months ago. We are required by the ordinance to perform a balloon test and a balloon 7 <br />test was conducted for a four hour period on April 20 and part of the balloon test is there is notice 8 <br />posted on the property about the proposed telecommunications tower and prior to the balloon test, on 9 <br />April 3, we sent certified letters to all property owners within 1,000 feet of the tower site. In the letter, 10 <br />we provided information that we were filing a special use permit application and we also provided the 11 <br />site plans for the special use permit application and also general information that answered questions 12 <br />that residents might have about telecommunications towers. Also in the letter I provided information 13 <br />about if there were questions or concerns, I provided my telephone number and email address and 14 <br />stated I could be contacted. I did receive one telephone call from a woman and I spoke to her 15 <br />generally about our application but that is the only contact I have had by email or telephone about our 16 <br />proposed applications. Also, a notice was published in two different newspapers, the News of 17 <br />Orange County, notice of the special use permit application was provided on April 3, 10 and 17 and in 18 <br />the Herald Sun, notice was provided on April 5, 12 and 19 and more recently the county’s ordinance 19 <br />does not require that a community meeting be held but I heard from Mr. Harvey that there had been 20 <br />some concern so I wanted to have a neighborhood meeting so I could try to listen to what the 21 <br />concerns are and hopefully address them and provide answers so I voluntarily had a community 22 <br />meeting and I sent the letters on April 28 to all the property owners within 1,000 feet of the site and 23 <br />the community meeting was held on June 4. 24 <br /> 25 <br />Larry Wright: How many people attended? 26 <br /> 27 <br />Karen Kemerait: About 12. The reason I provide all that history is because I wanted you to know 28 <br />there has been two and one half months which notice had been provided to the neighbors. I want to 29 <br />talk specifically about the application. This is a very important application for AT&T and American 30 <br />Tower and also for Orange County as well. There are many areas in Orange County where there is 31 <br />no coverage or insufficient coverage especially in the rural areas outside Chapel Hill, Carrboro and 32 <br />Hillsborough and this is another area in the rural area of Orange County. While the demand for the 33 <br />wireless service continues to increase, the construction for the infrastructure has not kept pace and 34 <br />been stagnant since 2009. AT&T specifically with this location has been approached by people who 35 <br />live in the area, traveling from the Greensboro area east toward Carrboro in their cars and businesses 36 <br />in the area and also had conversations with business owners generally in Orange County and the 37 <br />Chamber of Commerce about how better telecommunication coverage is necessary and this is a very 38 <br />critical area where coverage is needed. AT&T and American Tower is coming forward with a plan 39 <br />and they are coming forward with a significant investment to improve coverage for the Orange County 40 <br />residents. The reason for this particular tower is there is a large gap in coverage and when there is a 41 <br />large gap in coverage detected a team of construction analysts and engineers look for ways to fill that 42 <br />gap in coverage and they first look at existing structures (i.e., telecommunication towers, water tanks, 43 <br />etc.) and in this area, there were no telecommunications, water tanks or large buildings that AT&T 44 <br />could put its antennas on and that would be AT&Ts first preference to find an existing structure to 45 <br />locate its antennas on. When there were no existing structures, AT&T and American Tower have 46 <br />been working hard to find a good location for a new telecommunications tower and we have found, 47 <br />what I believe is an ideal location for this telecommunications tower and I don’t think it would be 48 <br />possible to find a better location than this in this area where the coverage is needed. This is a large 49 <br />tract of land, 28 acres, and part of it is used for farm land and there are also woods directly 50 <br />surrounding the tower and the purpose of this tower is to solve that gap in coverage. The gap is west 51 <br />of the town of Carrboro and it also will resolve the gap in coverage along Old Greensboro and Jones 52 <br />Ferry Road. Under tab 20 and this is the propagation map and this is where the tower location would 53