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Approved 9/10/2013 OC Board of Adjustment – 7/8/2013 Page 15 of 82 Samantha Cabe: It is in the record, they did not. There was not the possibility of the co-location. That has already 1 been… 2 3 Diane Riggsbee: You are talking about four? When you said a co-location, it is co-location because … 4 5 Samantha Cabe: They were required to inquire with any other carriers with existing tower locations as to whether or 6 not there was a tower they could locate an antenna on and they had to certify there was not that possibility in their 7 application before they could consider building this tower and there was no comparable. Th ere was no tower in the 8 vicinity that had room for them to place their antenna on. They have already done that as part of the application. 9 10 Diane Riggsbee: So when they actually finished… I am guilty because I am just coming to this meeting today but I 11 don’t know if the span of the cell service is just greater. Compared to other carriers, how many more towers would 12 have to be put up to accommodate AT&T? It bothers me when you totally ignore the main highway that is affected. 13 They just leave it off the map totally. It would actually be coming beside it. If you drew it on this map, it would be 14 coming beside the tower and I behoove you to go see it before you change people’s life and affect people’s life like 15 you are going to change them. I appreciate your time and attention. 16 17 Margot Lester: My name is Margot Carmichael Lester and I have been duly sworn. I grew up on Bowden Road, just 18 on the back side of the property in question. When I was growing up we didn’t have cell phones cause I am kind of old 19 but we did have WUNC ginormous television towers which were visible from everywhere on our farm and so I 20 appreciate the visual and the other impacts that folks are talking about. They are not pretty but when I ask my daddy 21 why we had to see those glowing red lights at night that were kind of scary when I was a kid, he said that was the price 22 we had to pay to get public television. Unfortunately, cell towers, even ones that are faked up to look like trees and 23 they don’t, are the cost of doing business and a cost of living in the modern era to get the service we need. I 24 appreciate those of you who have Verizon. I have AT&T. I live in downtown Carrboro now and if I go downstairs, I 25 can’t talk on my cell phone but what I have come to talk to you about tonight as both a lifelong resident of Orange 26 County and as a Board of Directors member at the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce and the Chairman of 27 its Economic Development and Public Policy Committee is a business issue. I have some data here from a Constant 28 Contact survey that was done in May of this year. It talks about how small businesses in particular use mobile 29 technology. I am a small business owner, I have two and many of the people I do business with are based out in the 30 county… some in White Cross and some back in my old neighborhood around Bowden Road and they are building 31 their businesses and maintaining their businesses using mobile technology. Many of them are having trouble but I’ll 32 tell you what the data shows so we don’t step into the hearsay point of view. According to the survey which is of 1,300 33 small business owners, it is the United States. I’m sorry we haven’t done one locally so I could give you more localized 34 data. They show that not only are small businesses using mobile platforms to advertise and to do email marketing but 35 18% of them are using mobile devices for payment. They are swiping those cards. Another set of them, 71% are 36 using it to do billing, to schedule appointments. So people are running their businesses with devices like these, off 37 their table computers and off their laptops and they need reliable service. When my husband was thinking of 38 relocating back to North Carolina, the things he said he required were reliable internet, strong cell phone service and 39 climate control and I can deliver on one of the three, the air conditioner which is anecdotal but I want us to think about 40 the impact as we try to build the stronger local economy, small business people who are running dairy farms and 41 contracting businesses and all kinds of things. We need the ability to have reliable service and I know it is not always 42 pretty to look at infrastructure but it is absolutely necessary and I ask you tonight to please approve this. I would like to 43 say if we can do anything to make it less of a visual impact on the neighbors, that is always a plus but the fact is that 44 we need this infrastructure to serve existing residents, business owners and folks who are trying to do their homework 45 at home or get a reliable service call out during an emergency so I ask you to please vote to approve this tower 46 tonight. 47 48 James DeGraffenreid, Jr.: I have been sworn. The question I have to you and AT&T and the Board is they are 49 showing the access to the tower off Sesame Road and I was wondering why that access. Couldn’t they have a 50 driveway going down to their house and the tower is left of the driveway and my question is why that access road 51