Orange County NC Website
Approved 9/10/2013 <br /> <br />OC Board of Adjustment – 7/8/2013 Page 11 of 82 <br /> <br />Michael Harvey: Without jumping the gun, yes, the ordinance does require it and, if this board sees fit to approve this 1 <br />tower application, there is a condition requiring the offering of an antenna site, which the county can refuse, but the 2 <br />offer has to be made. So yes they have to offer us a site for that purpose. 3 <br /> 4 <br />Larry Wright: We had testimony previously in the first half of this session that Verizon, has access to Verizon towers 5 <br />and you could use a Verizon phone in this area if needed… Did you take a look for possible co-location sites on 6 <br />Verizon towers in this area? 7 <br /> 8 <br />Karen Kemerait: We did and there are no existing towers within the search range. That has been confirmed with Mr. 9 <br />Harvey as well. There are no existing towers that AT&T could co-locate on. 10 <br /> 11 <br />Michael Harvey: I had testimony in the last meeting indicating that in the application package there is a map showing 12 <br />existing cell tower locations and this is an area where there are no existing cell towers so they are required to exhaust 13 <br />co-location opportunities before they submit the application. 14 <br /> 15 <br />David Blankfard: How is it that Verizon can provide service to this area and AT&T cannot? 16 <br /> 17 <br />Rusty Monroe: Each service provider’s network is designed differently. They are designed from different directions 18 <br />and they do have a facility that is close enough to provide some service in this area. They are not able to just overlay 19 <br />these facilities. They are all designed from different areas using different signal strengths. Each one is an entity unto 20 <br />itself or a self-supporting entity. This facility, we have more than reasonable probability of expecting at least one 21 <br />carrier if not two or more who want to co-locate on this facility especially going forward because the issue will become, 22 <br />once what Ms. Kemerait has described, is done, the issue now becoming a case is less and less coverage and more 23 <br />and more its capacity and you need a lot more site a lot closer together, not necessarily towers but for reasons of 24 <br />capacity because these facilities have a very finite capability of handling a given amount of traffic, they have to be a lot 25 <br />closer together. 26 <br /> 27 <br />Samantha Cabe: I have a question for either of you. If other carriers decide to co-locate on this tower, will it affect the 28 <br />appearance or size of the tower in any way? 29 <br /> 30 <br />Karen Kemerait: No, it will not. The ordinance requires that this is part of our application materials that it has to be 31 <br />room on the tower for AT&T and three additional carriers so AT&T is already committed and that is why we are here 32 <br />today. That is why we are here today, we should not be here if it was not a carrier that needed coverage in the area 33 <br />and then three additional carriers can co-locate on American Tower's tower. The benefit of that is these other carriers 34 <br />will not need to look for new tower sites because they can co-locate on this carrier and the ordinance requires that if 35 <br />there is a tower in the search area, they have to co-locate on it before they can look for a site for a new tower. 36 <br /> 37 <br />Samantha Cabe: The size and shape is already built out for four carriers, AT&T and three additional ones so it would 38 <br />not change the way it looks, the size or height? 39 <br /> 40 <br />Karen Kemerait: The height in one of the conditions is that it will be a 199-foot telecommunications tower and one of 41 <br />the other requirements of the ordinance is that the antennas have to be flush mounted so when AT&T puts on its 42 <br />antennas, they will be flush mounted so they will not be visible or barely visible at all and the same situation will be for 43 <br />the additional carriers that locate their antennas on the tower after AT&T puts its tower on it. The height of the tower 44 <br />will not be extended for additional towers. 45 <br /> 46 <br />Karen Barrows: In Mr. Dixon’s exhibit on page 12, he is talking about the balloon testing photos you have submitted 47 <br />and none of them really show an impact for the property owners closest to the tower. Was there a reason for that or is 48 <br />that true? 49 <br /> 50