Planning and Zoning Meeting - Regular Meeting

[Music] oh

[Music]

[Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] I call to order this regular meeting of the show PL and Zoning commission for Tuesday January 14th 2025 uh roll call shows that all Commissioners are present this evening

uh next we will have the invocate invocation given by commissioner Whipple followed by the Pledge of Allegiance by Vice chair Roberts uh if you'd like to join us please stand [Music] Our Father in heaven we are grateful to be here this night we're so thankful for all the blessings thou H has bestowed upon us and for this great land the community in which we live we're so thankful for thy love and support we ask you now at this time to be with us during this meeting that we may be directed and guided that we may be inspired as to making the correct decisions for our community that we may move forward in a positive manner we also ask that to please bless this community with moisture that the forest may be sustained that we may be kept free of the dangers of fire now be with us this night we pray in the name of Jesus Christ amen amened Ali to the flag of the United States of America and to the republ for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all the next item on the agenda is new business and item a under new business is consideration of conditional use permit 60204 d268 submitted by Linda Grace of young Design Group on behalf of Verizon Wireless to allow for a 110 ft monopine cell tower located at 1850 South White Mountain Road that being APN 210- 32-32 and I will turn it over to uh Miss Leen for the staff summary reports thank you chairman and Commissioners Linda Grace of young Design Group on behalf of Verizon Wireless submitted a conditional use permit cup to allow for a 110 foot monopine cell tower located at 1850 South W White Mountain Road that being

APN 210- 32-32 currently the site proposed is utilized by White Mountain Theater and falls under the C2 zoning General commercial IT spans approximately ft with dimensions of about 295 ft deep and 275 ft wide at the rear of the property lies a steep Hillside also designated for C2 and the southern boundary AB but C2 zoning section 19.11 5.04 n visual quarter production uh of the city code States except for placement on existing structures or Towers no new tower shall be permitted within 200 ft of of the edge of the RightWay for any arterial or collector roadways as identified in the city of sholo Transportation plan based on this requirement for setbacks the proposed model Pine will be positioned 26 ft away from the White Mountain roadway and 205 ft from Woodford Road in addition city code section 191 15.07 b5a States separation from all res presidentially zon property shall be a minimum of 100 ft or the fall zone as certified by an engineer whichever is greater this condition is met as the fall zone reaches 75 ft the closest residential zoning boundary line to the proposed monopine sits approximately 150 ft away from the proposed cell tower location the Pine Oak subdivision boundary line is approximately 375 ft from it from the proposed location to comply with city code 19.11 15.07 b5b separation distances between Towers

it is important to note that the nearest existing Tower is located at 1350 South White Mountain Road and stands at a distance of 1,800 ft from the purple monopine the applicant stated that the installation of the tower is necessary at this location because of connectiv ity needs equipment specifications and to address coverage gaps alternative sites nearby were evaluated but deemed impro impractical by the applicant CD code section 19.15 4 C1 states that Towers shall be painted subject to any applicable FFA standards a neutral color so to as to reduce visual obstructiveness at a tower site the design of the buildings and related structures shall to the extent possible utilize materials colors textures screening and Landscaping that will blend them into the natural setting and surrounding buildings the elevation rendering supplied by the applicant illustrates how the monopine tower relates to its environment for context the theater stands approximately 23 ft tall based on the latest plans available with a base elevation of 6,390 Ft the proposed monopine will have the same base at the Western Property Line the elevation is measured at 6,430 FT while the closest residential home is situated at an elevation of 6,450 Ft the monopine tower will be painted a natural pine bark color with faux branches approximately 12 to 13 ft in length tapering up to maintain the same shape of the surrounding Pines according to the plan submitted by the applicant there will be no Lighting on the tower and compounded area compound area additionally all FFA and FCC regulations will be adhered to prior to construction thereby F fulfilling the

essential requirements specified in our city code under sections 19.11 15.04 d and e current zoning of the surrounding properties include North C2 General commercial South C2 East C2 West C2 General commercial and R17 single family residential 7,000 ft the current land uses of the surrounding properties include North Speedway South Furniture Row East National Bank of Arizona West Commercial residential transmittal memos were sent to All effective agencies no applicable comments had been received one phone call from a neighboring property owner has been received regarding the proposed development indicating that they were opposed to the project we received an additional phone call today from another adjacent property owner in opposition due to the property values and the health and safety concerns after reviewing the standards for review the zoning or zoning ordinance discussions with the applicant and because of the request is consistent with the city of sholo General plan staff recommends that the Planning and Zoning commission approve conditional use permit C 602- 04- 262 submitted by L Linda Grace of young Design Group group on behalf of Verizon wiress to allow for 110 ft monop Pine cell tower located at 1850 South White Mountain Road that being APN 210- 32-32 all development shall comply with all applicable federal state and local requirements including Federal commissions Communication Commission the FCC Federal Aviation Administration FFA or FAA and building perment requirements the tower shall be in conformance with the submitted site plan no further

height extensions are allowed unless approved through a future conditional use permit uh thank you uh I will open it up to the commission for questions for staff this time commissioner Adams sort of a restatement it seems as though um the cell phone tower Falls all within the city code and there's no variances needed or or given for this is that a correct statement that is correct um commission may recall a previous cell tower that we had over by Fairway Park in which a number of uh allowances were requested uh allowances included uh reducing required distances to property lines uh reducing distance to Residential Properties uh recent revisions to city code actually removed the option for the commission to make those allowances um so now the question just is does it meet the hard number as specified in city code um if it doesn't then the commission does not have any latitude to make that reduction in this case uh the application as submitted does meet all of the requirements as outlined in city code and no uh no changes or allowances are being requested or would be required to meet city code very good thank you any other questions for staff uh I do uh director tasus so in the staff summary report it talked about the 1,800 ft from the next closest Tower to comply with city code can you remind me is there like a minimum what's the minimum separation distance, 1500 ft so

like you and that wouldn't be able to be changed by the commission that is a set in city code 1500 ft correct so so in order for if somebody was to come with a request that was less than 1500 they'd actually have to go through the variance process rather than uh coming to the commission and requesting an allowance thank you and and just to refresh my memory the reasoning for or the the process for the conditional use permit is is it because of the height of the the um Tower or is it just any type of communications Tower in general they all have to go through the cup process I'm trying to remember right you could refresh my memory so it's based on the height of the tower um the way our code is written uh we restrict cell towers to commercial property or to industrial property um with a few exceptions they're not allowed on residentially zoned property you'll find most of our commercial property is going to run parallel to our major highways you know Clark Road uh dusa clubs White Mountain Road um so the code really kind of is going to to channel these types of facilities along our major thorough fares um the code allows if it's an antenna or a tower that is less than 50 ft in height uh it becomes an administratively approved use does not necessarily have to come to the commission I could still kick it to you guys if I wanted to uh if I didn't feel comfortable with you know maybe an aspect or something of it um once you get over that 50 ft then it becomes a conditional use permit this one is uh m is a total of 110 ft that's about 105 ft

to the top of the antennas and then they've got a little bit of a fake pine tree topper kind of at the top to finish it off a little bit for a total height of 110 ft that would be consistent with the antenna and Tower uh that was installed most recently there kind of on Clark Road uh between the Dollar General and Circle K uh that one is also 110 F ft monopine Tower right thank you for refreshing my memory and the clarification on that any other questions for staff any questions for the applicant I do have one question for the applicant you can just state your name and address for the record Linda GCE 10245 East Via Linda suet 211 Scottdale thank you uh so I was looking through some of the plans you submitted here is the so it looks like the tower is going to be at the base of the Hill it's not up on the hill it's kind of right adjacent to the parking lot behind the theater am I understanding that correctly yes um that is correct it's behind the building at the base of the Hill base of the Hill photo Sim uh that's on the screen scen shows that where uh it's at the lowest part okay and so that's a and so then it's going to be basically right in front of where the tree line starts behind the theater if I'm understanding that correctly I'm just want to kind of I just kind of want to visualize what this is um this is going to look like so it's not set up in those trees it's right in front of those trees

at the base of the Hill that's correct there's a photo Sim on the screen if you can see that okay great thank you any other questions for the applicant I have one Vice chair Roberts um your company contracts with Verizon to find cell sites that's true sites for cell to are what not not real detailed but the general criteria for where you place a cell phone tower and how high it needs to be is based on what like say two or three major factors right so each carrier Verizon AT&T has a network so several cells cell phone towers uh those Towers have antennas that cover 6 65° approximately and they face three directions so if you have one facing this way and one here you have a gap in here that the antennas are not pointed at so it becomes a process of fitting the sights so that you've get you've got coverage so the antennas also cover 10 degrees out so if it's here it may cover a long ways uh but it could go right over the top once it gets too flat so it's got to be focused down somewhat so that kind of restricts where the SES can go so for instance uh on the screen is a coverage map of ryzen's area right

and uh here is the site the antennas are turned off here but so what they're looking for is red is best gold lime and then the mint color so uh not very good coverage along 260 or the residential area to the west or where the residential area is going to the east so this is not very good uh this is what the coverage would look like if this site was the only site there so you can see there's some red a lot more gold and the green diminished but when it's in with the network you have a lot more gold so that's how they work that so the RF engineer uh does computer modeling to figure out the location to cover where the most hits are coming from so the most demand and it's all computer modeled okay so anecdotally I'm aware of Gap when driving through that area you know right by that intersection where the movie theater is I hear it from numerous people from that point going south towards the shopping centers you know there's an area there that we seem to have you know more dropped calls at least anecdotally from people that I they're aware of that they say every time I drive through there I drop my call so this should help to alleviate part of that situation correct yes it should that's the intent is to cover that area will will it also enhance our Emergency Services coverage at all or are they separate from that such as fire department and police department they're they're separate but uh I I don't know

if xolo's Emergency Services on Verizon system okay I I can't answer that offhand okay um I noticed on the coverage map that you're showing here the other place that anecdotally we're hearing or they're having a very hard difficult time and personally I've experienced this is right here right in this area right here downtown shello people tell me Well when they call Verizon Verizon tells them the city of scholo won't let them put up the tower well we uh I'm my understanding is is we've got a couple of locations identified where towers and receiving antennas could go how do we go about having a meeting with you and or Verizon to try to increase this coverage we're doing a great job of doing this right here how can we do it right here how can we help to get better coverage in this area here and if I just may interject maybe we just want to maybe at some point we can maybe schedule a meeting to address that but that's not really on the agenda right now but maybe that's something that we can address at a future time that I just would like to put that out there we'd like to see some better coverage down here okay nothing that doesn't like she said it's not on the agenda but as long as we're talking cell phone signals if we can maybe try to if you're a person that helps identify those sites I can connect to that would be great okay that's my comments thank you V Roberts any other uh commissioner yeah I would um I see a little bit of information on security fencing and I know this is kind of a popular site for teenagers and kids so I was hoping You' just um maybe briefly describe what that security fencing

might look like just for our purposes sure so on the screen I have the um photo Sim the tower is not included inside of the equipment area so which is common in a lot of jurisdictions in Arizona uh the reason being that where we've got the compound the security fencing with all the equipment it's uh an area that can be expanded to put a second third possibly fourth carrier if that goes where the tower's sitting which is dictated by the setbacks from the road then about four to five parking spaces have to be taken out that so this is the compromise to be able to get the tower keep the most parking so the the uh bow tree typically has branches that start at 15 ft we've increased that up to 20 so no branches to 20 ft the branches are soft composite so that they move so grabbing onto a branch and pulling yourself up uh very difficult because the branch moves the attachment point is a little nub uh so the branches will pull off with significant weight um and the little Nubs are less than 2 in so that would be very hard to climb plus the branches are put on very densely so you can't like wiggle your way up uh so that's those security measures on the tree itself are sufficient in most jurisdictions to not require anything

additional um the fencing around the compound is uh well even if people climb over the fence that happens even on an 8ot tall fence there's really nothing in there that they can do because all the cabinets are locked okay so they're just inside of a fenced area so the tower itself is exposed and not within the fence is that kind of summ are We concerned about people driving through the parking lot and hitting that it's got some ballers in front of it so uh the tree the tower uh wouldn't likely Do Anything by being hit uh a lot of jurisdictions don't require ballards in this case we've got Ballers around the tree to prevent any kind of damage to it okay all right I think that's questions I have for you on that great thank you commissioner Adams any other questions for the applicant thank you very much uh I'll now uh open it up if there's any members of the public that would uh wish to speak on this item you can do so at this time just uh come forward make sure you state your name and address for the [Music] record H good evening members of the planning zoning commission any of you I know my name is Keith Johnson I'm the uh my address is 11:30 East Pine Oaks Drive uh right behind this in this Pine Oak subdivision um I'm the town manager for Pinetop Lakeside so I'll lay my

cards on the today um I I can't believe I'm a nimy tonight my gosh I I managed oil field service companies and uh I've heard all sorts of arguments I've been down the road cell towers and and uh not that I'm not sympathetic but I've always believed in the you know good sighting is is important a successful thing I've worked with Verizon I don't think I've worked with Linda she'll probably come to me at some point for a for an application so a conditional use permit all right so my opposition to this location is my house is at 6490 FT this top of this Tower is going to be at 6500 I'm only a few hundred feet away right in the line of sight um the in the uh and I and I'll say that and I I'll I'll save this for the end um looking at the fcc's document human exposure to radio frequency Fields guidelines for cellular antenna sites it says uh says a lot uh consequently normal ground level exposure ground level that would be at 6390 ft is much less than the exposure that might be encountered if one were very close to the antenna and in its main transmitted beam so you know they can put these on a building then they limit the access to the antenna by employees that or people that may access the antenna or the rooftop because there is a hazard to being close to the antenna I don't know how how much Hazard there is a few hundred feet away but for me it's like looking down a gun barrel because it's it's just right outside my window and for several of the houses

that and you have it on your Maps uh some I think one of the houses 150 ft away another is uh 200 or 250 ft away uh Pine top or Pine Oaks property boundary is uh 375 ft there's three homes right there and they're a little bit lower than me they're about 30 or 40 ft lower but they're they're close to to that U that altitude now will there be uh ver Verizon will build you know go on there obviously but then you'll have AT&T you're going to have first net you're going to have uh you could have T-Mobile you're going to have two or three on there so looking at these guidelines it goes on calculations corresponding to a worst case situation all transmitters op operating simultaneously and continuously at the maximum license power so that in order to be exposed to RF levels near the fcc's guidelines an individ an individual essentially have to remain in the main transmitting beam uh for several minutes or longer so again it doesn't say doesn't quantify what that distance is but uh my phone goes my hearing aids hopefully you didn't hear it ring thought I had on I have it on silent anyways so um I I think you have a you have a pole that's 1,800 ft away I'm not sure why they can't go on that poll um we had a self Tower applicant come to the town uh last year and um you know they they provide the analysis the Border point every application says this and i' I've seen I've been involved in government for 22 22 years no 26 years sorry the applicant stated that the installation of the

tower is necessary at this location because of connectivity needs equipment specifications and to address coverage gaps alternative sites nearby were evaluated but deemed impractical by the applicant that's boiler play time I've seen it numerous times what we found on our last applicant uh we took their analysis we sent it to another company we had it analyzed and it wasn't true now that was a a company that was going to build the the tower for another carrier not Verizon and we suggested why don't you go over to the tower that's behind um uh realy Executives up there by Charlie Clarks and that's a very tall tower and uh and they said it won't work well T-Mobile's on there now and that was the company that they were going to build that for because it did work so analysis is subjective kind of like going to the den it's not an exact science there are other sites that will work and the county recently um voted down a cell tower out by uh on the east of uh snowflake they had a lot of people that came and opposed it I for me I think there's a better site I don't mind being 600 feet away if I was at 6390 ft at the base but not at ey level within a few hundred feet and so I I I don't know what the danger is but I'm 600 ft away some of these houses are only uh almost half that distance or or even closer so um I know in the G guidelines it says and the attorney will tell you don't you can't turn this down but you can and uh it would take I don't know they're not going to sue you because they got to come back at some point and ask for another application all the ins and outs we

lucked out on our last one they timed out on their uh their thing got table they didn't come back so we locked out and and that Tower went away but uh there are other avenues and you don't have to accept that what they've given you is is exact that this is the only site that will any questions I thank you don't envy your I've been I've been an elected official uh also so I know the the pressure thank you thank you sir any other members public come on [Music] up I didn't know how many there was going to be so I need three I know you all right so um my name is Elise Kempton um my address is 1291 East Wolford Road um I am almost directly behind this Tower um I think on the map it shows my neighbor Lorraine Harmon um as a tiny bit closer but looking at the um picture that was up I think I might actually be a little bit closer um my kids do kind of play down on this hill and so that even kind of makes it um a little more um challenging for me so um some of the things I have in here have been

addressed already or questions I had had been answered so they're a little bit wrong but I'm just going to go ahead and read through it so says Dear city of sholo Planning and Zoning commission and Justin tasus I spoke with them earlier to today um I'm writing to formally express my opposition to the placement of the cell tower near my home located at 1291 East wford Road I believe this proposal is not in alignment with the best interest of the community and violates several Provisions in our City's Municipal Code particularly those related to zoning Public Safety Aesthetics and health concerns um one the zoning and land use restrictions as per chapter 19.15 070 the proposed placement of the cell tower does not comply with the designated zoning regulations for this area the proposed site is located too close to a residential Zone and the M Municipal Code emphasizes the protection of residential character and the need to minimize disruptive land uses allowing the tower to be constructed in the area would set a dangerous precedent for future residential encroachment by industrial or commercial commercial structures um the two aesthetic and environmental impact the city's code under the same code outlines the need for structures such as cell towers to be visually compatible with their surroundings um the proposed Tower will significantly disrupt the aesthetic value of the neighborhood potentially lowering property values and quality of life for residents the fall zone of the tower should be at least 121 ft from our property lines um obviously that has been checked and my numbers were a little different than what you had said um and I wasn't sure of the distance between the movie theater and the road um looking at that picture it

still seems like it is close to the movie theater um you know if it were to fail and fall I feel like it could pose um a great hazard in that instance um and besides being an isore itself I feel like the fence the fencing is also an isore um six foot Security Fence supposed to have an antil climbing um devices there you know that's seen from the road driving up that is seen from my property like not necessarily my home but my property that we um use thoroughly um according to the same code there has to be Forfeit of landscaping around the compound to effectively screen it from a home homeowners I don't know how that's going to be done with it at this level and we're at this level um and it's also all on asphalt so I'm not sure how Landscaping will go in there um um also in my research um I read that the cell tow lifespans are anywhere from about 10 to 30 years 30 seems kind of far 10 doesn't seem that far off um what is the plan at that point it does fail is it removed is it left there to rot um and depreciate property values um moreover it is important to consider the potential environmental impact of constructing such a large structure near residential homes including potential hazards to wild wildlife and increased traffic congestion during the construction um next the public health and safety the municipal code under 720.221.3606 the potential health risk associated with increased exposure to the

electromag magnetic fields that is the emfs from the tower while the FCC has guidelines I urge the city to carefully review scientific studies on the long-term Health impacts of living in proximity to such infrastructure according to radio smart the distance needed to reduce exposure down to the public um a precautionary level of 100 microwatt per meter squared is often around a/4 mile or 1,320 ft the radiation put off by the towers is greatest within 164 ft which is too close to our property lines it is not until the 150 M Mark which is just under 500 ft that the energy gets weaker um I think my house directly is like 3 49 ft or something like that from this Tower um the safety of the resident should take precedence over the convenience of cell tower installation according to the National Library of Medicine which is an official um website of the United States government prolonged exposures to emfs can damage cells and be linked to an increased diagnosis of brain tumors breast cancer um leukemias and other cancers the elderly and children seem to have a higher risk due to the still developing tissues of the children and the weakened immune systems um my neighbors who I o have a letter from her she could not be here today um her she's 95 years old and her I think her cousin and her niece lives with her and they are roughly 70 and 75 so um I also have three children and I know there's children in the other homes in Pineo that um line the outside there um so number four the lack of proper communication um according to section

19.13 5.0 030 it appears that there's not been adequate Community engagement or consultation regarding the project the residents of this area have not been sufficiently informed about the proposed plans or given an opportunity to voice concerns in a meaningful way the notice shall describe the type and nature of the request at least 15 days prior to the date of scheduled hearing the lack of transparency is inconsistent with the city's commitment to involving residents in decisions that directly impact their quality of life so um in light of the aforementioned concerns I strongly urge the city and the Planning Commission to reject the proposal for the cell tower near my home the placement of such a structure in a residential area is not an alignment with the values expressed in our municipal code and it poses a range of risks um to public health safety and the environment thank you um so this is from my neighbor I wanted to read it so that you guys can hear her her concern so her name's Lorraine Harmon um she just kind of gave me the proxy to speak for her but she is opposed to the tower as well um her property I think according to the map is the closest to this um to the tower um she's concerned about the health risks as well and um about it just being in eyesore so any questions thank you Miss K thank you [Music] hello everyone uh I'm Zach Jackson I live at 1010 East Pine Oaks Drive um like the last two speakers I share a lot of the same concerns about living in the sort of

main transmission beam of the top of the Tower um I'm a little bit further west from Keith's house uh I'm not sure the distance from my home to the tower but I probably the elevation of my house is probably something about 10 ft higher than Keith's um I have two little girls and I haven't um I I've I've spent some time this afternoon after I heard about this meeting and this topic uh looking at the American Cancer Society and FC see published information about uh risks associated with cell towers and um it seems like there's a lot of uncertainty and there's not a lot of detail about where exactly the uh the distance from cell towers where the risk of overexposure occurs um but I'm certainly concerned about the information that was provided on those um cancer uh society and FCC websites uh beyond that I wanted to share that while it's true I do have Verizon I have since I've lived in the community for eight years now um three and more years ago it was true that we drop calls um going into our neighborhood there was a dead zone there but that has not been true for the last couple of years haven't had that experience and I've no longer for whatever reason had difficulty with cell reception at my house so I'm not sure that that's still a viable uh justification for the site location I'm certainly personally interested in what other Alternatives were considered I don't know if you guys have that information available to you and just wasn't a part of the agenda packet or what but I would encourage you to um scrutinize I guess the alternative

site evaluation if there was any provided to you um and and I think that's it I'd just like to share support the concerns that were already raised and and add that a little bit of other info thank you thank you sir anyone else uh from the public all right with that I'll close the public comment portion and bring it back to the commission for further discussion on o uh director if you had any anything you wanted to highlight in response to what was stated by the public and uh Linda I can give you a chance to talk to to speak to some of those concerns as well uh yes chair appreciate that um so we've got the overhead aerial uh on the TV screens in front of the commission um also available um there on the screens internally and and being brought the property that's under consideration is the theater property it's outlined in red uh the approximate location is marked there with kind of that red star on the edge you can see um kind of along the lines of the chair's question earlier it does not go into the treat area it is there at the base of the the slope as far as separation distances to adjacent homes um measurements taken just off of our aerial photos so understand there's a little bit of a plus or minus on there but fairly close um to the uh first home to the West um that was the property owner that was referenced this evening uh that is not in attendance but you have a letter

from her I did speak with her on the phone um regarding this application and her concerns which were uh included in the staff report her home is approximately 300 feet from the cell tower proposed location uh the home of Miss Kempton who we did hear from this uh this evening kind of there in the bottom corner uh that home again measures out at about 450 ft away and that's just a direct line measurement from the proposed site to the home there's a little I'm sure there's some variation there if we went out with actual survey equipment it's not going to come out to 450 but it'll be fairly close uh the distance from the tower directly south to the Pine Oaks boundary that comes out at just right about 375 ft um as far as separation distances there was a question about that uh city code requires that the tower be um and I want to read this so that I get it specific got a lot of things open here um so under city code um setbacks the following setback requirements shall apply to all Towers Towers must be set back a distance equal to at least 125% of the fall zone as certified by a licensed engineer from any adjoining lot line um in this case the fall zone is certified by the engineer with 65 ft uh which gives us when you add to the 125% that's about 81 ft is what they need to be to the property line uh

they're actually about 116 ft or so so they exceed the minimum required fall zone as certified by an engineer um a little bit about Landscaping was brought up the plans that were given to us this even evening those are just conceptual plans they're not construction drawings um if they are submitted for actual permit again assuming that this was approved by the commission uh they would need to show that landscaping around that um equipment enclosure area that 4 feet wide that was uh discussed or or mentioned previously um so that is a requirement of city code and is something that we would be looking at on actual Construction drawings there was a question about notice requirements uh and a specific code section that was referenced that code section deals specifically with variances so earlier in the discussion uh we talked about if they were to come in and say we need a special exception from the code it would actually go through the variance process which goes to the board of adjustment um it's a completely different process than what we're having this evening in that case yeah we would require a minimum of a 15-day notice in this case because this is a conditional use permit we require a minimum of 10day notice um as far as we we have to post the property and we have to send out letters to all Property Owners within 300 ft at least 10 days prior that was done uh incidentally our sign that we posted there on the uh movie theater property apparently got pushed over looks like there were some tire tracks there we actually went back and reset the sign um because we felt that notice is important so we do comply with the requirements as far as

notice um Mr chair as far as you know health concerns and things like that I would defer uh the rest of those types of questions to the applicant uh also questions as far as you know why this site maybe not another site I'd defer that to the applicant as well yeah thank you director tasus for the clarification on that any comments from the commission uh commissioner Adams yeah um I was hoping I'm a little confused about not having the security fence around the tower itself I'm I'm wondering if we've had that in the past if we have other towers that are set up similar and and then how the the city code kind of Falls in line there um I don't know that I've seen that in my brief stint here so I was hoping you could maybe speak to that a little bit Mr so um typically you'll see a fence around it um for whatever reason most most companies will go ahead and put a fence around the base um in this case they are electing not to or at least requesting not to uh as I said earlier there were some changes in the code that took away some options by the commission um fall zone setback distances those types of things in this case fencing around the tower um can be required by the commission or you guys can wave that requirement um staff's perspective it really doesn't make a difference to us whether you put a fence around the base of it or not um it really um once you're starting to put in the ballards around the base that protected area with the ballards versus putting a fence around the same area uh really won't impact the parking or anything like that so um in in this case yes it could be required if the commission felt that it was

necessary do we have other Towers in city limits that that are set up similar to that or is this the first one um most towers that I'm aware of do have the fence around the base I know there are probably at least one stand we would consider a standard cell tower that may not have a fence around it that would be the one at cell one uh directly north you know 1,800 ft north of this we also have what we call a micro cell site that is out on Penrod road kind of over by kolie uh they're close to the county building on pen rod um that is where they take an existing utility pole and they put a small antenna on the top of it there's no fence around the base of that it's just a a Standard Electric pole with an antenna on the top of it so okay Vice chair Roberts what I'm hearing is that possibly this site because it's a movie theater and attracts a lot of teenagers might be more susceptible to antenna access than maybe another site uh my question for the applicant would be would it be possible for us to have I know they're already planning on putting in the bards and that would keep it protected from Vehicles if we put in addition to that another fence around it would that add additional deterrent and security to the Tower and try to deter a little bit from granted teenagers can climb a however many feet fence would it be an effective T I guess I'm asking the commission and the applicant

if they thought that having that additional fener would add to the security of the tower in my opinion the off fence around the tower puts it closer to the branches where if you're wanting to try to climb the tower you're up on the fence you're already 6 to 8 feet up to try to get onto the to Tower so I think it is not a deterrent to somebody that wants to climb it if if they wanted to climb it the the tower it'd be easy over the fence up the tower that would just be what they would do so a fence around it I don't believe is um a deterrent if I may this is a photo had a site in Poria it's at a church at a playground uh it's not fence the playground is open to the tower there's no issues of anyone climbing the fence there that type of tower is becomes more common especially if you have like a building where you've got your equipment inside the tower outside how it rarely gets fenced so it's um more common than you actually realize so I have a question um what about on the cliff side so when you look at the picture on page 28 you're proposed where the tower is going to sit backs side of that it kind of has a bit of a steep slope almost a cliff kids were climbing up on top of that could could they reach out

and somehow grab a branch or get to the Tower that way is it that close it's uh I mean I think probably you could jump like if you were really yeah that's what I'm okay so when I say jump like you could get a running start get a running start down the hill and maybe jump but it's like you're going to do that why wouldn't you just walk over there and try climbing right I mean I don't think that it it's not as close to the slope as you think okay I mean it would be it would be a difficult jump okay but yeah there's a concern there I guess one thought I had one more quick question if I could yes the equipment is down at the bottom down at um the lowest level of all of this parking lot level we're going to put landscaping and excuse me items to camouflage that a bit will from looking up above from the houses that are up above that are 375 ft or 400 ft away however 450 ft how much vision would you see that they would have of that actual equipment area down there with with the trees and everything there will that block most of the vision from the houses that are up on the hill I believe that uh you would have to be on parcel that the theater's on to be able to see down the slope to where that is okay so I don't believe you can see it at all okay

Linda so is I listen to the public here the main concern is property value but more the underlying tone is help so you've obviously leased set up administered hundreds of these sites you've heard the argument from the FCC Cancer Institute on and on and on speak to that on these r is that we're talking about the 5G waves whatever that causes me cancer right to either bolster me up to make it feel good or settle me down and make me feel good okay so first uh on the record the Spectrum act uh prohibits a jurisdiction from considering health effects in their decision and so that said health effects the way that the cell phone works is it is a transmitter I'm the cell phone tower I transmit you have a cell phone it has an an yeah so real quick just so I can put it in layman's terms what's the difference when I stick this to my ear and when you're banging me from your Tower and and I just d in my yard over here and join my kids the power at your cell phone is over a thousand times more than what I'm transmitting at the tower at 350 ft or 100 ft any distance so this so is what you just said this is more dangerous than your Tower

absolutely H absolutely and that approvable yes absolutely I'm not an RF engineer but I can bring one I can some documents that show that yes will you finish commissioner hatch I'm done commissioner Wills um sorry I'm losing my voice so one of the gentlemen who spoke earlier mentioned that the calls and and I know this too I haven't dropped for years it seems like when you go past the Pines condos and stuff I haven't dropped a call in a long time um why choose this site were there other sites that you looked at and how did you land on this one I will address that let me get to uh 1800 okay I'll use this map to talk about the sites uh so here's the cellular one right so we looked at that site we met with cellular one tried to see how we could get on it the way that they were forced into going up against the building uh doesn't allow for equipment to go anywhere there was no way that cellular 1 and Verizon's construction engineer could figure out a way to get the electrical the trenching everything done for Verizon to get into the site and the height of the antennas

was going to be at 45 ft that would only cover The Meadows area it wouldn't cover out to the residential going up on the hills on both sides so it was not uh constructible and it didn't provide coverage that was that beneficial I mean there would still have to be maybe two more cell sites to cover the same area so that was why that was dropped that site going down uh 260 moving south there's on the west side is commercial properties right those commercial properties are maybe 150 to about 200 feet in depth a little over two there's one piece where the Imperium is that's a little over 200 ft so the setback from the road uh there there's not enough distance for the setback to meet any of the requirement there and that's non-negotiable at the city at the Emporium the only place it could fit was in the parking lot at the front door of some of the businesses like and that just is not something that I would consider if I was the business owner so I didn't even ask them because that was the only place it could go okay so that that takes care of the western side all the way down to uh Woolford Road that's this that's this entire site here okay um going along the Eastern side of the road you have the meadows and most of that's in a flood plane

so Verizon won't put a tower in a flood plane because you just have that uh un instability so that's the bulk of the Eastern side down to wol then you have those couple of pieces that now have hotels on them the hotel uh closest to the road the lot is not wide enough to meet the 200t setback the property that is now the Hampton in the second one in um that site could meet the setback the tower would have to be close to the front door or on the back corner we did talk to the the property owner about doing that he was willing not in the front door but maybe on the back because of the elevation change from the creek where that sets to up to the road the tower would need to be about another 30 to 40 feet over 100 about 140 ft tall to be able to meet the ridge lines to go over the ridge lines so and it would be built as uh it have to be a like a standalone Bell Tower so you would just have coming down 260 you look into the distance the hotel there 140t Tower that's and to be that tall you need to be about 25 by 25 so it was unsightly but it could be done it'd be very also very expensive so cost and the um blocking like the nice visibility going down 260 it's it's a nice view

right uh so then there's a bank and it would the only place that the bank was in a drainage area in a retention Basin that wasn't feasible and then you get down further you've got um the sides that go up the hill in the trees it would have taken out we'd have to put a road in and take out a lot of trees to get a 40x40 space so it was this was like the best alternative out there thank [Music] you so one other thing about the health issues the FCC requires that the uh carriers provide uh their radiation or radiating estimates out you know so if they find oh there's something in the area that's close they have to turn the power back so that they control that to keep it within the limits and so it's monitored and well known what those are so just to kind of drill down on a little more in Clarity this is worse for me than your Tower yes sir doesn't matter the load running through so if I'm running down 260 and it's a holiday weekend and that thing's just lit up like a Christmas tree doesn't there's no more bad energy coming out of it for lack of better term than what's stuck to my ear correct that's I believe that's the case exactly what you said yes so then why is it then in that we have this consternation in with the public

that it's bad and how come your industry sells right hasn't come with more educated conversation like no this this is worse for you than the tower that you're proposing I mean it's just kind of a vague question yeah I mean I would have to really take a wild guess to answer the question no why interesting okay any other questions for Linda while she's up here thank you any other so I'll bring back to further discussion or emotion by the commission yes sir yeah feel free all right Johnson 30 Pinos I I'll read this again from the FCC citing calculations according to a worst case situation all transmitters operating simultaneously and continuously at the maximum licensed power show that in order to be exposed to RF levels near the fcc's guidelines that's the agency an individual would essentially have remain in the main transmitting transmitting Beam for several minutes or longer you're on your cell phone all day long I think they're saying here that being in the way of close to an antenna is going to be worse than your cell phone American Cancer Society said um on a roof with a cellular antenna which I'm assume will be similar to what they may Mount here exposure levels approaching or

exceeding the FCC safety guidelines are only likely to be found close to and directly in front of the antennas if this is the case access to these areas should be limited if an antenna is up on a on a building top access to that area has to be limited so all I can say is there must be a hazard to uh to being too does it give a foot like feet so are we talking me to you or we talking 400 ft away it it doesn't say and I said that before I can't quantify what that distance is well no it's that's my question right right well I can't say what it is I I can't answer your question on yes I know it's my year right but the FCC and the American Cancer Society is saying that close proximity to an antenna should be limited they don't tell us to limit our cell phone use although I use my speaker rather than put it to my ear all the time I use earbuds all the time so that's that's all I can say and I um and I realize that uh the FCC guidelines say that you can't consider health issues I say that this I my suggestion is that this is not a good site because of the level of our homes being in direct line with the the antennas from these will there be a future will there be a second or a third one go on there and increases the RF uh that will come from that tower that could possibly affect U people so that's the only concern that's all I can say thank you thank you any other discussion amongst the commission well I just want to

say that again I haven't lost dropped call in a long time you know and it's like I I haven't seen any like data that says why this particular one is needed here in this area but um I do believe that obviously we have downfalls in sholo in our area for cell phone service and I know that our towers are are most likely overworked some of them especially when the tourists are up but that's just my comment to it any other comments or a motion I move to approve cup 60204 268 submitted by Linda GCE of young Design Group on behalf of Verizon Wireless to allow for 110 foot monop Pine cell tower located at 1850 South by Mountain Road that being PN 21032 032 subject to staff recommendations second I have a motion by commissioner hat have a second by Vice chair Roberts all those in favor say I I and that no nay not correct uh that passes uh unanimously director tasus thank you chair um this conditional use permit will be considered effective unless an appeal is received by the city clerk's office within seven days if no appeal is received then this will become affected thank you director moving on to item six on the agenda call to the public if there's anyone wishing to speak on a matter within the jurisdiction of the Planning and Zoning commission not on the agenda this evening uh you may do so at this time see none we move on to item seven approval of the minutes do I have a

motion on the approval of the minutes from the Planning and Zoning commission regular meeting of October 22nd 2024 I move to approve the minut I have a motion by Vice chair Roberts so I have a second I have a second by commissioner Wilson all those in favor say I I that passes unanimously uh moving on to item eight summary of current events and we'll begin with commissioner hatch Great Dan shello I don't have any I don't have anything right now um just to those around just be careful out in the woods it's uh extremely dry we're uh we're hoping for rain but I'm not sure we're going to get it so let's just be careful especially as uh spring comes in I'd like to Echo those statements by Council Adams and add to them we would like to encourage everybody to be prepared for the possibility of having to evacuate is we've seen what's happening in California right now we've seen what's happened over there in the previous we've had evacuations here at different times over the years we're in an extremely dry situation right now and the possibility of evacuation is strong so whatever we can do to be prepared and be firewise the fire department would like to clean as much flammable material away from our houses as we possibly can uh thank you Vice Roberts I don't have anything to add onto that director thank you uh just a couple things one fire danger already been mentioned I don't think we can emphasize it enough um if you watching the news last week you may have heard a shout out to our Timber Mesa uh firefighters we have several of them that are over in Los Angeles currently helping with those fires that they have there and they were instrumental in helping save a few of the homes there and they got a special

shout out on the news so that was great to see them and and them representing um we'd hate to have to have them do the same thing here for us um so simple things make a big difference you know if you can trim your trees up the city does offer a free trash removal on uh odd-numbered months so the next one would be first week full week in March um bundled branches would be picked up also bags of pine needles would be picked up um and then we have our annual Project Clean site but um really a lot of it is just Comm sense and being active you know taking a look and and taking action um on things that you can do to help your home and your neighborhoods also would like to remind everybody uh pets and pipes right we've had a recent spell of some pretty cold weather after we had some pretty warm weather and uh pets and pipes don't like cold weather so uh keep track of them pets bring them inside if you need to um and check make sure your pipes are insulated and that they're not freezing that chair I'll go ahead and turn it back to you uh thank you director uh seeing no other items on the agenda I will adjourn us [Music] [Music] [Music]