Agenda - 11-01-2000-8j - Laserfiche WebLink

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AUGUST 28, 2000 DRAFT PUBLIC HEARING MINUTES 4 1 only people interested in co-location are government agencies, school systems, emergency 2 services, fire departments, etc. He said that some of the tower companies were very prejudiced 3 about who would co-locate on their towers. 4 Commissioner Brown asked for a list of all the towers and a map. She asked about 5 how these towers were being located. She asked if the trend was for the towers to go along the 6 interstates and major highways and Craig Benedict said yes. Commissioner Brown is interested in 7 having the County Commissioners review the requests for telecommunications towers. 9 (The three members of the Planning Board who spoke next did not.speak into a to .microphone, so I relied completely on the notes) 11 12 -Karen Barrows said that she would like for the County Commissioners to take over the 13 telecommunications tower process. She said that the County should have an independent 14 engineer who is familiar with this to advise the County Commissioners. 15 Howard McAdams said that the Board of Adjustment has had six applications with two 16 denied. For one application, 500 notification letters were sent out and no one spoke against the . 17 tower. 18 Bob Strayhorn said that a lot of pain needs to be taken to be sure that the towers are t9 located appropriately. He feels it should be a high priority to put the towers in conservation 20 districts. 21 Commissioner Jacobs asked about the contract with Metrosite or any contract with a z2 comparable company.. Craig Benedict said that Metrosite was sanctioned with the North Carolina 23 Association of Counties and there is a standardized contract that can be used around the country. 24 He will bring forward a contract for the County Commissioners' consideration. ?5 z5 PUBLIC COMMENT 27 Sharlene Pilkey, member of the Board of Adjustment, said that there were forty-one towers in this 28 County. The problem is that the range is two miles and this is not far enough. z9 Grey 5tyers spoke on behalf of Bell South Mobility DCS and American Tower Corporation. 3o He said that he has spoken with all of the towers companies operating in North Carolina and most 31 carriers, and they are very interested in the proposal tonight. He said that they (I'm assuming 32 'they' is his law firm) worked with the County in 1995 and 1996 in drafting the current ordinance. 33 They would like to be involved in the process to explain and provide illustrations. He said that 34 wireless communication was becoming a fact of life. He agrees that it is bad when two towers are 35 located next to each other. He said that. ordinances are needed that encourage and require co- 36 location and minimize the number of towers. He does have answers to some of the questions 37 raised about accessory uses, stealth, etc. 38 39 MOTION 4o A motion was made by Commissioner Gordon, seconded by Commissioner Jacobs to 41 discuss the telecommunication towers and antenna amendments at a work session. 42 VOTE: UNANIMOUS 43 44 3. ORANGE COUNTY REGIONAL LANDFILL (MODIFICATI,ON~ SPECIAL USE 45 PERMITS CLASS "A" 46 Commissioner Halkiotis explained that the process for receiving public comment on a 47 Special Use Permit is different in that it is an evidentiary hearing where evidence is heard. An 48 explanation of this type of hearing was available at the back table. Evidentiary zoning hearings, 49 unlike legislative hearings, are not designed to solicit broad public opinion about how the Board so should vote on a matter before it. Rather, evidentiary zoning hearings provide an opportunity for 51 the Board to gather the facts it needs to apply policies already set in the ordinance. Therefore, the 52 standards and gathering evidence are much stricter than they are for legislative hearings. 53 The Clerk gave an oath to Planner Eddie Kirk and Landfill Engineer Mike Meagher. 54 Planner Eddie Kirk explained the proposed modification. The particular property is 30