Pasco County meeting record

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1May 23, 2023
Board of County CommissionersC18Consent agendaApproved
Approved minutes
Approved to move forward with that one and then we have this delay that we should also move forward with.
Open this item →
8m1/2
Jack MarianoChair
All right, so C eighteen, this is the tower. Now this was a regular item. This is not an item we take Dialogue on it's not a public hearing. So
staff want to add something to that item.
Mike Carballa
So the revision, Ms. Wolf has a couple of things that I think she just needs to read in because there were some revisions made to the agenda memo. What action you want to take on it? Again depends on what what the board wants, of course.
Is is what it is. A lot of the things that were discussed earlier can happen during the testimony, happen during the conditional use process, which is the the second step of this. But uh I'll let Heather bring her things up at least just to get into the record the changes that were made and then the Board can decide what it wants to do with it.
Jack MarianoChair
Okay. Or do we just want to have a conversation on it first?
Mike Carballa
Pleasure of
Jack MarianoChair
the
Mike Carballa
board.
Kathryn Starkey
I I'm sorry. I was making sure I get to do that.
But I
Mike Carballa
talk about that, but it's up to you too. We're going
Jack MarianoChair
to break for lunch. And then what um what I'm asking the board, what does the board want to do right now? Does the board want to continue this to a time s uncertain down the road? Uh I will I will say this. I met with the uh Verizon folks With vertex yesterday. And I suggested to them. Down at Starkey Theater, they do a presentation. Let them show what they've got for all their evidence, all their presentations. And maybe they'll convince them that, you know what, maybe it's not dangerous, maybe it's okay. It may also provide them an opportunity to look for another
location which could work. And l that location is another another another key thing. You know, you've heard it's not just about health and safety, but to have that cell tower right there in the middle of campus, right in the middle of the Starkey, is not something that uh conducive to a a great environment per se as well. So there's a lot of things that could be done. I think if we continue it at some point down the road, we can say time uncertain and will it stop bring something back to us at a later time? We'll give them an opportunity to meet with the residents one on one in the theater, which is right there on campus. I think it's a
better way to go. Closure of the board.
Ron OakleyVice Chair
I move um That we continue through a time uncertain. And uh look into the studies of this before we come back. So Commissioner Yeager County Attorney wanna say something? Hang on, we have a motion.
Jack MarianoChair
I'll second the motion. Mr.
Unidentified speakerVoice A
Chairman, I think the county administrator and I are both going to say the same thing, and that's we need some direction as to when this is this is
It's not a public hearing. You can continue it. I don't have a problem with that. But to a time uncertain doesn't give we don't
Mike Carballa
know when you would bring this back. Correct. And I think a couple of different things here again, I will just reiterate this is this is a land lease. The school board as a joint owner of the facility has approved a lease for their half. We're asking the board to approve or disapprove the lease on our behalf. If the lease is approved, the next step is to go through a conditional use hearing, in which case a lot of the expert witness and testimony that I think you are desiring will come through that process. So if I were to bring this
back even as a regular item, I I would be bringing back before you the terms of the lease unless you want to give us some other direction to handle it differently. And even then, I I still have an active bid and a lease, so I I I I need to know what to do with that as well.
Jack MarianoChair
Well I'm gonna say at this point. With everything we have heard, there's a lot of fear that's out there. There's a lot of also people just don't like it, period. So conditional use can take care of some of that. However, if we approve this lease at this point in time, we have a lot of people who are not a I think from everything I'm hearing and again I don't know A hundred percent factually, but there's enough doubt out there I may be hurting ourselves to even make the decision we want to make. So I would like to continue this maybe ninety days. Give it time, let's go do some research, let's get some things together. Maybe they'll find a better location, maybe they
can work something out with residents and bring something back in like 90 days. So I'll say continue to ninety days.
Mike Carballa
So I will bring this back as a regular item as a lease in its current form after ninety days. I uh do do we need to do any other work or
Jack MarianoChair
I I think it
Mike Carballa
should be
Jack MarianoChair
a public hearing. I think all this all this information we're hearing, because if we Make a decision, whatever it may be, in ninety days, and it's a public hearing item, at least at that point, everything that's talked about in here is now submissible so that it can be backed up because otherwise we're getting trapped. And I don't want to get trapped.
Kathryn Starkey
Yeah. Um question. I have a question. Mr. Starkey. So I think it's possible there may not be support for the lease. But Mm my concern is That if we don't follow the law here in allowing the um rest of the the um Um people to speak. Like the petitioner? And may and and this is what I'm gonna ask the county attorney. I I don't want to set us up
for um a protest or anything. So for taking an action Of No
Unidentified speakerVoice B
sir, you cannot you can't please please stop. Please do not. Do you know I don't
Kathryn Starkey
think you
Unidentified speakerVoice B
understand what I'm saying?
Kathryn Starkey
So
Unidentified speakerVoice B
I
Kathryn Starkey
don't wanna um jeopardize the action that we take and opening a door to make to have us Uh approve something we may not want to approve because we didn't follow the proper procedure. So you know I'm all about the procedure and I want to ask the county attorney. If we're taking action before we've had a board presentation, And the applicant presentation. Does it matter?
Unidentified speakerVoice A
So
The lease is you're acting in your proprietary interest as a property owner in the lease matter. It is not in your regulatory capacity, which would be the pu public hearing for the conditional use later. In fairness, I think you would should give your partner, the school board, an opportunity to be heard. If you wish to hear from the from the tower operator or the the the the person who the Vertex. Um
you may do that as well. This is again this is a what is before you today is a bid For the lease of property. You may Just like any of your bids, you may reject all bids. If you decide that's not where you what you want to do
the complication of this particular lease or this particular bid is you have have a P four agreement with the school board and the school board has moved it forward to you. To enter into that lease as as your partner in the in. So I would think you would want to before you decided to continue or Whether you or um Take Affirmative action on the lease, I would think you would want to le
hear from your staff and hear from the school board and potentially from Vertex. Today.
Ron OakleyVice Chair
I would I would like to can we do that at a Continue it now and then do that. I would like a shorter time than the ninety days. I don't think we need ninety days, but When could we bring it back?
Mike Carballa
I mean I'm prepared to give you a presentation right now, so I can bring it back at any time, sir, whatever whatever the board's pleasure is.
Ron OakleyVice Chair
When's the next
Unidentified speakerVoice A
meeting here? I would say if you're I would suggest If you're going to continue it Have staff present first thing at one thirty. And
And then decide whether you're gonna take action or you're we're gonna continue it for sem so many days.
Jack MarianoChair
Alright, so one thirty we'll take it up first thing and we'll adjourn for lunch.
Unidentified speakerVoice A
Okay. Okay. Very good.
Mike Carballa
Thank you.
Unidentified speakerVoice C
Thank you.
8m2/2
Jack MarianoChair
The Board of County Commissioners gonna reconvene for our public hearing is they're gonna wait though. We're gonna finish item C eighteen, which was in discussion before we left for break. Uh after that we'll do the resolutions and then we'll get to the public hearing process. So County Administrator?
Mike Carballa
So in in discussions with um with Vertex there there is an indication that they are willing to wait 90 days. So prior to me having staff bring up anything, I would just like to give that out to the board for consideration. Sounds like they're willing to do some activities to talk um and bring it back in ninety days, but that's That's what I've uh information that I've been given by Furtex.
Kathryn Starkey
Commissioner, may I speak?
Mike Carballa
Uh Commissioner Starkey.
Kathryn Starkey
So um During lunch I made uh quite a few phone calls during my Um meeting with Vertex before this meeting I learned of the size of the footprint they needed for a cell tower. And when this um When this controversy um started, I had reached out to um Keith Wiley, the head of our Parks and Environmental Lands, to see if there was room in the park. for the tower to move it away from the school And it was his
impression that they needed one to three and there he is right there. I'm putting words in your mouth. uh one to three acres and that there wasn't room. But at the size that um this the South Tower Company mentioned to me this morning, he does feel that there's room to uh accommodate it. Yeah. That does bring up the challenge that the park is not part of the poor fee agree P4 agreement that we have with the school district. And they're very interested in the revenue that comes from the tower. So
um in talking with Mr. Goldstein, he said we could amend our P4 agreement and agree to share the revenue. of the tower that would be located only on our property And I called uh Mr. Gadd and he said that was fine with the school district. and um and then talking to Mr. Steinsnyder, Mr. Karbala Um Uh uh the other caveat too is that because it is not on land that is part of the P four, it would have to be rebid. Now Vertex was the only bidder. um
on that tower on the school site. So it's the it's I think I'll let the county attorney um state the recommendations that they're giving to us on how to move forward. Um so but that's gonna be my motion that we move forward with that one and then we we have this delay that we should also move forward with.
Unidentified speakerVoice A
Mr. Chairman, members of the board, based on based on what Commissioner Starkey has said, i if you wish to entertain the previ moving the s the tower away from the school on your property, on the park property. Um what I would recommend would be
um that the current action which is before you would be continued for So many days so that sh You get through the procurement process on the other site before you reject You they don't need both leases. So if a lease comes out of the park site And that's the one the board wishes to go forward with in your proprietary capacity. then that would be the lease that would be offered to
to Vertex assuming it meets all their criteria and that's where and they're willing to locate there. and then you would terminate the invitation for bid or invitation to negotiate for the shared use site. Um that that would get the tower away from the school by so many feet. I don't know those numbers off the top of my head, but Um that seems to be the the compromise that was was
envisioned.
Unidentified speakerVoice D
Mr. Chairman Mariano instead of ninety days to get through the procurement process.
go with what Mr. Steinsteiner proposed. My recommendation would be that you continue this item Yeah.
Jack MarianoChair
Okay. So let me just ask a couple of questions. And I want to clarify something that I asked a question, I I misunderstood the answer, or I didn't get enough information back from it. But when I read uh This company called It's Above Ground Level. And when I read this statement, and I'll read it again. Although the Telecommunications Act of nineteen ninety-six does not allow the government agencies to take account into the health effects of RF radio frequency emitted from cell towers
and other radio transmitters when making decisions about site approval. Landlords may consider health effects when deciding whether to lease. So for the board's clarity, because I again I thought I said this pretty clear but and I thought my just my answer back was different, but that statement rul rings Okay. So having said that, we could just reject and be done. Now I am delighted, Commissioner Starkey, That you you dug in a little bit
more and and did a little more research to find out that we could move the site. And to go look at that is fine. But I will say that from everything I've seen, and I'm happy to work with Vertex, I'm glad they're willing to go work to change the site as well. Do we really need to even continue the item? Is there any benefit to Vertec or Rust where we can keep them in the game? Is that is that the objective? I'm not sure. Mr.
Unidentified speakerVoice A
Chairman, as I said, I I agree with a statement that when acting in your proprietary capacity you can You don't have to lease your property. And you can le you can reject Leases for All sorts of reasons. When acting in your regulatory capac what I was saying was when acting in your since You both have a regulatory capacity and a proprietary capacity on this case. Which was not the case in
in the article that you showed me. They were just the school board, so they they didn't have any regulatory capacity over the tower. Yeah. confuses the issue for you as a governmental entity that has both a proprietary and a regulatory capacity. Um but Your Purchasing code allows you to reject bids when you deem it to be in your best interest. and
and the ITN that went out on this had that language in it. I just believe that that Based on where we are and based on the partnership with the school board We need to have a solution before we reject this lease.
Jack MarianoChair
Okay.
Unidentified speakerVoice A
All right.
Jack MarianoChair
Yep, I got the second as well. Okay. So for that reason, as much as I would like to be done with it as well, I'm happy we have an alternative. And Commissioner Starkey, thank you for again taking that step and and and working those last minute uh negotiations. I tried to work it out yesterday as far as putting pressure on an alternative. Uh I'm glad you came through with it. Fantastic. Any further discussion on the item? All in favor say aye. Aye. Okay. All right. Thank you.
So we are continuing the item for 120 days. We're going to look for an alternative source in a park so it doesn't go with the school.
No, we all right, so we we
I don't know you want to address where?
Kathryn Starkey
No,
Jack MarianoChair
because I just know it's out of the I just know it's out of the school at this point.
Kathryn Starkey
As far away uh from everyone as we can.
Jack MarianoChair
Yeah, we'll work we'll work those details and we'll we'll inv you'll be you'll be notified when we can have a hearing on that as well. All right. But thank you all very much.
Kathryn Starkey
There will be hype discussions as well. But we we have to move on with them.
Jack MarianoChair
Yeah, it's hundred day hundred day continuance. We're looking for another site in in the park, not the school. It won't be in the school. We're looking for an alternative, we're just protecting everything else to go. Please don't clap, but if you guys do want to go we're gonna carry on with the rest of our business. No, thank you. Well I know they want to go, so I'm

FAC-23-0106

Official title

Every appearance1 of 1 are in a recording