A TOWERING ISSUE confronted the Waynesboro Planning Commission, at its August meeting, and it took 3 separate motions for that advisory body to decide upon a recommendation for City Council, on the tall task. First, the Commission recognized the arrival of a new member. Brand new City Councilor Pete Marks joined the Planning Commission, as the City Council Liaison, and this was his first meeting. He replaced Vice Mayor Tim Williams, in the Liaison position. EDITORIAL PERSPECTIVE Waynesboro.Coms editor is currently the longest-serving member of the Waynesboro Planning Commission (appointed in January of 2004), and the points of view expressed here are mine. Additional questions were asked by other Planning Commissioners, but only the ones asked by me, and those that answered matters that seemed relevant to me, are included. THE PROPOSAL Verizon Wireless has applied for a Conditional Use Permit to allow the construction of a 115-foot cell phone tower, to be located on the property of Waynesboro High School, near the tennis courts and football field. STAFF OPINION City Staff not only recommended approval of this Conditional Use Permit, but also recommended an even taller tower of 130 feet, to accommodate additional antenna arrays, for use by other companies. They said that this would reduce the need for additional towers to be constructed, and would also provide the capacity to meet the City of Waynesboros desire for the tower to be able to handle 3 antenna arrays. [ Because light fixtures for the tennis courts will be located on this tower, the number of available antenna array mounting points is reduced to two.] MY INITIAL REACTION The height of the proposed tower seems excessive to me. Because I studied Physics for the first two of my undergraduate years, I am not a complete novice on Radio Frequency propagation, but I also do not claim to understand modern antenna design concepts. The lighting for the tennis courts concerned me because the artists rendition appeared to place the lights very high above the courts, making it seem likely that excessive light would spill over into the neighborhood. QUESTIONS & ANSWERS Question #1- Why does the tower need to be so tall, when other towers in the area are much shorter (i.e. the flag pole cell tower at Cross-Stitch Station, behind Arbys)? ANSWER #1- Verizon Wireless evaluated different heights of towers and determined that this height was optimal. COMMENT #1- This answer did not satisfy me, but without the advice of an expert on the subject matter, I had no grounds on which to object. --- Question #2- If approval is given for a 115-foot tower, can the additional 15 feet be added at a later date, pending City approval? Answer #2- Yes, the tower can be designed for future height addition. --- QUESTION #3- Is the City guideline of having 3 antenna positions a legal requirement, or merely a suggestion? Answer#3- It is a suggestion. ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTATION Verizon Wireless provided a variety of photographs and artist renditions of the tower, and views of it from various locations in the neighborhood. Some of those renditions involved placing a balloon at the proposed height of the tower. A couple of Planning Commissioners opined that the balloons do not accurately portray the impact that a cell tower would have in the community, so the other pictures with simulated towers were more relevant to consideration. Verizon Wireless also noted that there are several 80-foot light poles already in the area of the tennis courts, which light the soccer field. It was their desire for the new tower to blend in with the existing light poles, though it would be at least 35 feet taller. It was never mentioned in the meeting, but the Waynesboro Public Schools will probably benefit financially from the leasing of the property for the cell phone tower. The Superintendent was present at the meeting, and confirmed that the schools would be in control of the usage of the tennis court lights. CITIZEN COMMENTS One neighbor spoke of his concern that the cell tower would interfere with his television reception. That is really not an issue for the Planning Commission, but the applicant assured the citizen that they have specific channels to use, none of which are TV frequencies. THE VOTE Planning Commissioners were not unified on their opinions of this proposal. It took 3 separate motions to reach a decision. The first motion was to approve the request, with the staff extension to 130 feet in height, was made by Stuart Hall. It failed in a 2-3 vote. Stuart Hall and Pete Marks voted in support of this motion. The second mtion, to reject the request, was made by Terry Short. It failed, due to the lack of a second. The third motion, to approve the request at the applicants requested height of 115 feet, with the other City Staff recommendations, was made by me. It passed 3-2. Greg Bruno, Constance Paradiso, and after a short pause (during which all eyes were on him for several seconds) Pete Marks voted for this third motion. CONCLUSION Cell towers have become common in our area, as wireless services are more heavily used. The tower at the nTelos facility, south of i-64, is 197 feet tall (though it is far from any neighborhoods). Another tower is located at the Rescue Squad building, and it is a tall one. At the time of this writing, I was unable to determine its height. It is very likely that the new cell tower will not be a problem to the community, but may keep our gadgets functioning to keep us in contact, and allow business to proceed unencumbered. If a future agreement is reached, by Verizon Wireless, to lease additional antenna array locations on their tower, then another CUP request will probably pave the way, if all works out as expected. My opinion is that this matter was well-vetted and logically concluded. The Planning Commission has given its advice to City Council, and now Council will make the final decision. The matter is on their agenda for Monday, September 22nd. If you have any concerns or opinions to express, then please attend Mondays City Council meeting. THE REASONING The proposed cell tower is a necessary item, though I dont like the height. Too many of us regularly use our smartphones and other wireless devices that depend on radio frequency infrastructure to allow the capacity to become insufficient. By questioning, I was able to determine that we could approve the applicants request for a 115-foot tower, and see if it would be a problem to the community, and if another 15 feet became needed, it could be approved at a future date. This way, we gained the opportunity to see what the real tower would look like, rather that just imagining it. THE TWO TOWERS were under consideration, but the decision allows Waynesboro to try both heights, and see which one suits us.
Posted on: Sat, 20 Sep 2014 23:35:51 +0000
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