Orange County NC Website
Approved 9/10/2013 <br /> <br />OC Board of Adjustment – 7/8/2013 Page 5 of 82 <br /> <br />the property values of this neighborhood. There is only one answer and that is it will detract the property values of this 1 <br />neighborhood. 2 <br /> 3 <br />Larry Wright: And what basis do you make that statement? Are you an appraiser? 4 <br /> 5 <br />Armand Lenchek: No. I am not an appraiser. I am not allowed to take money for giving an opinion on the value of a 6 <br />property. 7 <br /> 8 <br />Larry Wright: What we have to deal with here is that we need evidence like impact value and things of this nature. So 9 <br />what can you… we can hear you say that but there are more attorneys in this room than board members and I can say 10 <br />they know what hearsay is so we have to have evidence from what you say. 11 <br /> 12 <br />Armand Lenchek: The evidence is that I have worked with many buyers and sellers over the years, specifically buyers 13 <br />taking them to look at properties and I can specifically think of one incidence where I showed the buyer a beautiful 14 <br />home, in North Durham, in the Northgate neighborhood. She loved this house, it was perfect for her and we had been 15 <br />looking for a house for her for many, many months and it was tough to find the perfect house. This was the perfect 16 <br />house for her and she was falling in love with this house until she looked over to her right and right on Roxboro Road, 17 <br />there is a huge cell tower there. This cell tower is designed to be camouflaged to make it look like a big tree but it 18 <br />obviously was not a tree so the minute she saw the cell tower, she said, I cannot buy this house. I am afraid of the 19 <br />radio emissions coming from this. I haven’t really seen a lot of studies. 20 <br /> 21 <br />Larry Wright: There are. This is all hearsay. I have a cell tower in the back of my house and it was built after I moved 22 <br />there. I am very happy it is there. It is in the middle of a cluster of woods and I am happy it is there so she didn’t like 23 <br />it, I do and it has benefited in our neighborhood market so there is more hearsay. 24 <br /> 25 <br />Armand Lenchek: May I asked what neighborhood you are in? 26 <br /> 27 <br />Larry Wright: Cedar Grove. This is immaterial, we need evidence. You are talking about one woman, we need 28 <br />evidence. 29 <br /> 30 <br />Mark Micol: Do your customers ask you about the potential for high speed internet or bandwidth when they approach 31 <br />you about a sale? 32 <br /> 33 <br />Armand Lenchek: Yes. They certainly do. 34 <br /> 35 <br />Mark Micol: Do you think that washes out the negative side? 36 <br /> 37 <br />Armand Lenchek: I don’t think so at all. The general fear of cell towers is both a visual aspect and a possible 38 <br />radiation. Those two aspects, time and time again, I have had buyers tell me I don’t want to be near it. It is the same 39 <br />as high tension power lines. People don’t want to buy houses that back up to high tension power lines and it is tough 40 <br />for us as real estate agents to quantify how much less a house will sell for when it backed up to a power line but we 41 <br />know it does, it simply does. I have a house on the market in Colvard Farms and I cannot get anyone to look at that 42 <br />house because everyone knows that it backs up to the high tension power lines. It is the least expensive, practical 43 <br />square foot, in Colvard Farms right now and nobody is looking at this house. It is a gorgeous house but I can’t do 44 <br />anything to sell it. In my mind, cell towers are the same thing as high tension power lines. I know this neighborhood 45 <br />down Sesame, I have actually tried listing some of the homes in that neighborhood, and it is a tough neighborhood to 46 <br />sell. It is not one of our high dollar neighborhoods and if we add this cell tower to this neighborhood, it will depress 47 <br />those property values further. That is my feeling about it; that is my experience of over 10 years of working with 48 <br />buyers and sellers. I also have lot for sale at 224 Red Run. It is a very small footage and it is literally 100 yards away 49 <br />from where this cell tower is supposed to be. It is the next left to the west. I will show you where it is. This is a 50 <br />beautiful lot. It is a little over 11 acres. My sellers had planned to build a million dollar property and they are not going 51