Conditional Use (Regular) - Beverly and Vesta James Elliott/Coral Towers, LLC/Verizon Wireless - 199 Foot Above-Ground-Level Monopole Wireless Communications Facility (WCF) in an R-2 Low Density Residential District - North Central Pasco County - On the North Side of Spring Valley Road, Approximately 870 Feet West of Adela Street File Number PEG24-CU14

2:35:25all those in favor of the motion by aye. Uh

2:35:29All opposed, like saying? Motion pass uh 5-0 move on to item Sixty? P sixty?

2:35:42Item P60 was published in the Tambay Times on April 17, 2024 and by affidavit of certified mailings and site postings.

2:35:50Item P60 is PG24CU14 as conditional use for a 199-foot above ground level long pole wireless communication facility in an R2. The names of Beverly and Besta James Elliott, Coral Towers, and Florizen Wireless.

2:36:09As stated, the applicant proposed an 199 foot above ground level, which is a hundred and ninety-five foot wireless communication facility with a four-foot lightning rod, and it's of a monocle style, which is suitable for the co-location of three additional carriers, which will have a total of four carriers. And it is proposed to be located within a sixteen hundred square foot fence compound area, which is on the north. Eastern portion of the property. The property is approximately 1.88 acres. It's located in north-central

2:36:39Pasco County on the north side of Spring Valley Road, approximately 870 feet west of Adele Street.

2:36:48This is uh showing the location within Pasco County.

2:36:54The subject zoning on the property is R2, which is a low density residential district. To the north is R2, to the west is R2, to the south is AR Agricultural Residential. To the east of the property is A Tampa Electric Company Electrical Substation, and to the east of that is the Lanton Lake Park subdivision. So it's um the surrounding area is a low density residential. It includes a Tampa Electric Company substation, some

2:37:24agricultural pursuits, some undeveloped property, and the Blandon Lake Park subdivision. The surrounding uh land uses are Res 6 to the northeast and west and res one to the south.

2:37:43Here's the subject property, access to the site is from Spring Valley Road, which is a county maintained road with 50 feet of right-of-way, and access to the compound is proposed through a 20-foot wide access easement. Here is the context map showing um what is in the area. Um I know it's showing that there is a trail, but I have clarified with the team that there is not a trail proposed. In that area the trail is actually being proposed

2:38:13to the north more along Lanson Road.

2:38:18This is the proposed site plan for the property and on the right hand side you see what the tower will look like. The land development code requires the applicant to provide at least four photosimulations of what the what the actual tower will look like. So you'll see a before and after, so without the tower and with the tower. Over at position one, that's within the Blanc and Lake Subdivision. So that's looking southwest, and

2:38:48it's at the intersection of Blocker Street and Baxter Avenue. We position one is existing and And uh the monopole proposed, it does not show the tower visible from that location. The other location is also within the Blandon Lake Park subdivision and it is looking southwest at the intersection of Blocker Street and Ainsley Street and again the tower is not visible from that location. This is looking directly on the property, so the photo

2:39:19simulation was taken from Spring Valley Road looking north on the property. So obviously the before and after you will see the proposed communication tower and as you can see there's an electrical line being shown along the front. And then the fourth position, this is looking southeast on Spring Valley Drive, and you can see the monocle.

2:39:47And uh this uh application comes to you with a recommendation of approval with conditions from the Planning and Economic Growth Department and the Planning Commission. And I'm here for any questions that you may have.

2:40:02Everybody knows where the locations is? I'm looking at it. That's not around Platinum.

2:40:07Denise, isn't it? Yes. Isn't it true the Wescoochie River Electric site right next door? Without any permission from the board they could put the cell tower on that side also?

2:40:15Um actually they would not be able to under the old land development code, so the pre two thousand and twelve land development code, we used to have uh something called an excluded excluded facilities, which are basically like for example if Tampa Electric or Duke or something like that wanted to place a tower on their property, they could do so without going through any uh Approvals. Um, but once the uh land development code was changed in 2012, it would require. So I'm I'm sure you've seen, you know, uh recently within the last few years, Duke

2:40:46coming to you asking for a communications tower, for instance. So you're you're correct, and under the pre-restated land development code, that would have been allowed, but after the restated land development code uh was adopted, um the concept of excluded facilities was removed from the code.

2:41:04It doesn't matter who the owner of the site is.

2:41:06It's just general.

2:41:06I think this is Tico actually. Okay.

2:41:08Yeah, and and uh um I did also contact Tico to ask for any comments and they say that they don't have any objections to the request.

2:41:17And this this actually is in WREC property? I mean area area of substance.

2:41:22But it's an actual it's an actual Tampa Electric Company s uh uh substation. Oh

2:41:27it is

2:41:27that's adjacent.

2:41:28So they're lines right there close?

2:41:30There must be.

2:41:31Yeah, okay.

2:41:35I know um since we started getting uh Wi Fi and all that and uh a lot of that coming to the county is coming into District One in my area. Uh it's been needed for many, many years and a lot of people have very poor coverage out in that area. Uh this will improve. a lot of people's lives out there in that area having a having that bowl there to Give it a Wi-Fi.

2:42:05Um I'm sorry, I stepped out to the restroom. Do you have a proposed a preferred because I see I see four sites here. Which is your preferred

2:42:13No the these are just um uh the land development code requires the applicant to provide photo simulations where they actually uh float a balloon up in the air and they basically then juxta juxtapose what the tower would look like. So these are the simulations at um come like in the first one for example was looking southwest and it just basically shows before and after and in that case you want to be able to see the tower. Um the second uh site location is uh looking southwest it's also

2:42:43within that subdivision called Blanton Lake Park and um again before and after doesn't uh show the tower. Uh this is looking directly at the property so this is uh the the uh The Vesta Elliott property. So you're looking directly at the property, and this is before without the monopole, and after with the monopole. And then the last one is looking southeast on Spring Valley Drive. So before is without the monopole and after is with the monopole. So those are photo simulations that the land development code

2:43:13requires for the applicants to submit. And I just wanted to show that. To the commissioners as part of the presentation. How big is the property is one point eight eight acres. And they're buying the whole thing? They are actually um the it's going to be within a sixteen hundred square foot fence compound area. Um and this is the site plan showing uh the compound area.

2:43:36So it's

2:43:3770 by 70. That seems kind of big. It's sixteen hundred square feet, so it's not seventy by seventy. Well well what we're not seven. I have it in my fine reading. Okay, because it looked like it's 4900. Do

2:43:50we have an applicant to speak on this?

2:43:52The applicant is sh is right behind me. I can't read that little print, so Yeah. It's actually one of the smallest compounds I've seen in the p in in the past, actually. All right, well.

2:44:10Good afternoon.

2:44:12Good afternoon. I'm Matt Shanaya John, 935 Main Street, Suite C4, Safety Harbor, Florida, 34695. Um I know that um Your day is long in the tooth, so normally I would try to give an abbreviated presentation, but I also know that we had some citizens who uh spoke at the Planning Commission hearing, so I will give a little bit more than abbreviated if that is okay. Before I go into my presentation though, uh Commissioner

2:44:42Starkey, the difference that you're seeing between the 40 by 40 and the 70 by by seventy is the actual lease parcel area where the landscape buffer can be replaced. So your code requires area to be set aside for the landscape buffer and fifteen feet has been set aside on all sides. Okay.

2:45:04As you heard, um I come before you today with staff, County Engineering Consultant, and Planning Commission recommendations of approval for a conditional use to provide a 199-foot-tall monopole style telecommunication tower. And that's on parcels 07-2421-0020-00500-0020 in the Blanhanton area off of Spring Valley River. Yeah. As has already been in in all maps I show you today up will be north. This

2:45:34is an aerial from the county property appraiser. And so in this map you can see Blanton Road kind of snaking its way through. from the lower right hand or southeast side, coming around to the north of the Belangton Subdivision, and then proceeding off to the west towards I seventy five. Uh where we are actually located is right here where the Spring Valley Road curves and turns north. And

2:46:05that is a right of way with lines serving the Tico ser the Tico substation there. Um other th the other important thing to note is immediately to the east and I've applied an orange arrow showing the location of the tower.

2:46:21Yeah.

2:46:22This is just a closer view. What I'd also like to point out to you is that there's mature trees throughout the area and that helps break up view sheds. Obviously I can't make it invisible. I don't have the Romulan cloaking device or I would not have student loans. Uh but what I can do is minimize the physical presence of the structure and keep it as short as possible. 199 feet is the minimum height for Verizon. They're at the top, so it's not like you would be approving a tower with additional height above it hanging up. The only thing up there is um the lightning rod that gets you to one

2:46:52ninety-nine. And then the physical design is a monopole, and that's a tower with a single support pole with no guy wires or ironworks extending out from it, but it does have external headframes. You may have heard me before in other tower sites, but basically the industry requires these external headframes so that way they have the airflow necessary to operate these antennas with the integrated radios so they can keep up with the traffic in the area.

2:47:24And then this is the um this is just the closest aerial. And you can see as we go off to the north, there's actually land that's owned by the Catholic Diocese that's wooded. We have trees along the perimeter, and of course we have trees out along um Blocker Street. Immediately to the east of me is that um Tico Power Substation. We would respectfully submit That from a compatibility standpoint, you would expect to see an infrastructure type use. And that's very much what

2:47:54this is, because as we go along and cut our uh wired connections, we're increasingly relying on wireless connections to the point where the past two presidential administrations have been supporting efforts to bring um to bring Um high wireless connectivity to rural areas. So this isn't really about so much trying to urbanize anything. This is about bringing service to the people who are already

2:48:24there. It's very similar to rural electrification, I would suggest.

2:48:31Of course you have your current zoning of R2. There is AR zoning to the south.

2:48:37And then of course your future s uh your future land use designation of residential six. This is an example of a monopole style communication tower just against a clean open sky so you can see what they look like.

2:48:51This is sheet C one from the site plan set overlaying um the line work from the site plan to the um to an aerial of the parent parcel. So basically the monopole would be and its compound be located where on the aerials before you were seeing a dead tree. And then um the driveway would extend to the west. The access is one trip per carrier per month, typically in a pickup truck size vehicle. Um also these

2:49:21structures are designed with fall they'll be designed to the 2023 Florida Building Code and they'll be designed with fall zone technology which means that in the unlikely event of structural failure they fold over upon themselves. I do have a picture of a lattice tower that Hurricane Matthew bent over in the um panhandle and basically the picture shows the tower in one piece and everything around it. in very bad shape. But the tower is still one piece? Um for monopole technology, the only example I

2:49:51have for you are the um are the towers are the lampposts that were along King's Highway exit on I-75 in 2004.

2:50:03uh when um Hurricane Charlie came through. The closest houses are to my northwest and to my east and we're over a hundred percent tower height. This is sheet C2, it's the same line work except without the aerial. In the background.

2:50:21And my landlord does live on the property. That is the house to the south.

2:50:28Alright.

2:50:31This is sheet C3. It is the equipment compound and this just shows that as that the compound has adequate capacity to support co-location, your code requires co-location to avoid the proliferation of towers in general. So Verizon will be located on the southern portion, um, immediately to the southeast of the monopole, and then you would have three additional co-location pads. Coral Towers has provided a

2:50:59We don't we don't allow that. You're gonna say you can put more towers on this property?

2:51:04No ma'am. Uh this tower is designed to support multiple carriers so as to avoid multiple towers. All right. This is the elevation.

2:51:13So are those the e you would those are your equipment box. Correct. Okay. And

2:51:19it so I'm sorry, that's I don't I don't know that I've ever noticed those squares. So if another carrier comes on there they put some kind of equipment at the bottom as well?

2:51:29Correct. So you have um antennas with radios up top with their own computers. And then you have the backhaul um computers down at the bottom. And once upon a time back when I I started practicing you would actually have little concrete structures with like a shell finish on them. Now we have uh traffic signal sized cabinets that are there with computers inside of them. So they're usually shorter than the fence. Okay, interesting. Uh speaking of the fence, this will

2:51:59be enclosed by a completely opaque fence as required under your code. You saw the photo simulations, so I will not run you back through those.

2:52:10I do want to bring your attention to the RF package.

2:52:18And this establishes in-building and in-vehicle coverage. You can see we have towers along the I-75 corridor to the west. And then down on State Road 52. And then along the 301 corridor. This is consistent with previous use when 1G, 2G, 3G you're using it and you're using it for connectivity in lieu of payphones. The area that would be provided service would be in the Blanton area, of course all

2:52:48Blanton Road along there, and the lands around it. Green is reliable, red is unreliable service. The blue dots are existing Verizon Towers, just for clarity in the record. And then this is just a picture of the cover to be provided from the monopole by itself. They do work together much like as a network, much like the spotlights that are above your head, they have to be evenly spaced out in order to light

2:53:18this room. So too must towers be evenly spaced out in order to provide a network of reliable service. Housekeeping. I held a community meeting at um on March the 27th at St. Leo University. I had four I had three members of the public attend. And then I would I also like to bring your attention to Um I would also like to bring your attention to the fact that we have an FAA determination, no hazard to air navigation. This

2:53:48will be completely dark at night. And I would like to show you 911 call statistics for Pasco County, showing that in 2021 over 83.9% of all 911 calls. uh by the received by the Pasco County Sheriff's Office came from cellular phones. And this just shows how far we've switched over to wireless service. I will not suffer you my recitate a recitation of the conditional use elements. You have your staff's expert analysis as well as my written analysis. I am available

2:54:18for any questions that you may have. We agreed to all staff's proposed conditions of approval, and I am available for any questions that you may have. I save remaining time for rebuttal. Thank you.

2:54:30Any questions, Daphne?

2:54:34Seeing that. We have anyone signed up?

2:54:38Mr. Chairman I have no one signed up and no one on WebEx for this item.

2:54:41Okay. Does anyone in the audience wish to speak to this item?

2:54:47So no one will approval.

2:54:49Okay. Second emotion. And then we're going to do that. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Motion passed. Thank you for your time today. Okay. Thank you. If they could all be that

2:55:02easy.

2:55:04Yes.

2:55:07You got off easy on that one, Lisa.

2:55:10Yeah. So m my timing got thrown off. We're supposed to be done by now, but Anyway, we're gonna start um that's a ball in Jenna

2:55:20What? You

2:55:21gotta

2:55:22what

2:55:23you You gotta leave in an hour or an hour. No, no,

2:55:25but no. She was no I said I have to

2:55:27You're not gonna be here in an hour.