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Article 5: Uses <br /> Section 5.10: Standards for Telecommunication Facilities <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Orange County, North Carolina – Unified Development Ordinance Page 5-89 <br /> <br />(g) Applicants shall evaluate the reasonable feasibility of collocating new <br />antennas and equipment on an existing structure or structures within the <br />applicant’s search ring. <br />(h) Prior to issuing a building permit for the collocation of an antenna array <br />on an existing facility, an applicant shall demonstrate that the collocation <br />is located appropriately on the facility with the overall goal being to <br />preserve the carrying capacity of the facility for future collocations and to <br />minimize the visual intrusiveness and impact, including the profile of the <br />facility. <br />(i) In determining the necessary height for a facility, or the height of a <br />collocation on a facility, the signal strengths analyzed shall be the <br />threshold or lowest signal strength at which the customer equipment is <br />designed to function, which may be required to be determined by the <br />manufacturer’s published specifications for the customer equipment. <br />(j) Approval of the Planning Director to verify consistency with the definition <br />of stealth facility is required. <br />(k) All telecommunications towers shall be placed in heavily wooded areas <br />on the site to the maximum extent possible so as to lessen the visual <br />intrusiveness of the structure and accessory structures. <br />(l) No tower shall be permitted to exceed its designed loading capacity. For <br />all wireless support structures attached to existing structures, the <br />engineer certification statement shall include certification that the <br />structure can support the load superimposed from the wireless support <br />structure. All wireless support structures shall have the capacity to <br />permit multiple users; at a minimum monopole wireless support <br />structures shall be structurally designed to accommodate four users and <br />self-support/lattice or guyed wireless support structures shall, at a <br />minimum accommodate three users. <br />(B) General Submittal Requirements – Special Use Permits <br />In addition to the general submittal requirements detailed herein, and the specific <br />submittal requirements for all Special Use Permit applications detailed within Section 2.7 <br />of this Ordinance, applicants shall be required to adhere to the following: <br />(1) Overall Policy and Desired Goals <br />The overall policy and desired goals for Special Use Permits for wireless <br />telecommunications support structures shall be promoting and encouraging, <br />wherever possible, the following: <br />(a) Alternatives to constructing new wireless support structures, including <br />but not limited to the co-locationcollocation of wireless <br />telecommunications equipment and mitigating the visual effect of a <br />wireless telecommunication support structure to an extent not <br />commercially impracticable; and <br />(b) The placement, height and quantity of wireless telecommunications <br />towers and equipment in such a manner, including but not limited to the <br />use of stealth technology or camouflage techniques, to minimize adverse <br />aesthetic and visual impacts on the land, property, buildings, and other <br />facilities adjacent to, surrounding, and in generally the same area as the <br />requested location of such wireless telecommunications support <br />structure, which shall mean using the least visually and physically <br />intrusive facility that is not technologically or commercially impracticable <br />under the facts and circumstances. <br />(2) Balloon Test <br />28