Town of Huron Planning Board Minutes - subject to approval.
Regular meeting - November 2, 2009
Call to Order: Larry Lockwood called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m.
Members present: Larry Lockwood, Joe Snyder, Chris Kenyon and Charles Boogaard. Jack McGuire was absent.
Other Officials present: Laurie Crane - Supervisor, Dave Buisch - Councilmember and Amy Reichhart - Associate Attorney for the Town
Guests: Stephen Woodward, Jim Woodward and John Ivanov
Correspondence
Larry had a notice about the workshop taking place in Batavia in November. He said there was still time to register if anyone was interested.
Approval of Minutes: Chris Kenyon moved, seconded by Charles Boogaard to approve the minutes of October 5, 2009 as submitted.
1. AT&T Cell Tower
Stephen Woodward, Pyramid Network Services, representing AT&T reviewed the history of the application prior to coming before the Planning Board at this meeting. He then stated that when he last appeared before the Zoning Board, problems with the application had been pointed out. Stephen stated that he thought that everything had been corrected and the application that the board had was now complete. He stated that after discussion of the different options with the Zoning Board, there was a straw vote and the board decided that AT&T could move forward with the Lummisville site.
Joe Snyder said that his view of the information was that a 150ft tower on the proposed site would serve all of the Town of Huron and that the additional height was needed to get to Sodus Point and beyond. He reminded everyone that the Town law states a 150ft tower. Stephen said that he thought that Joe's was a fair statement but that AT&T was looking to minimize the number of towers it builds and wanted to make the best use of their money. Joe said that he was struggling with why they needed a variance to build a tower in excess of the law to serve outside of the Town of Huron. Jim Woodward, Project Manager from Black & Veatch, stated that with the 195ft tower, SBA (who will take over the site) will market the tower to other carriers, which means that those carriers will not have to look to build their own towers. Also, in his opinion, if you build on to a 150ft tower in the future, it looks like it has been added on to as opposed to the clean look of the 195ft tower.
Charles Boogaard asked why they had chosen Huron as the location for the tower. Stephen replied that the RF Engineers had determined that this area lacks coverage.
Joe referred to the criteria that need to be met in order to have a basis for granting a variance. Under Section 51.20 (c), it states that the benefits of the applicant must be weighed against the detriments to the community. Another criteria that Joe considers a test that AT&T must pass is whether the benefit sought by the applicant can be achieved by some method feasible for the applicant to pursue other than the area variance. Joe feels that they need to prove that there is no other way to achieve their coverage except by building the 195ft tower. Joe wanted to know what had been done by AT&T to pursue collocation with Verizon since the letter from the Verizon attorney stated that Verizon would be willing to collocate.
Amy Reichhart told Joe that the straw vote had been taken by the Zoning Board after long discussions about collocation and various issues with collocation aside from coverage. The Zoning Board was satisfied that AT&T had submitted sufficient documentation and information that collocation wasn't really feasible. Amy noted that it was not a formal determination; that it was only a straw vote.
Joe said that he feels that the request for variance goes above and beyond the needs of Huron. He feels that the 150ft will work and he could not advocate anything over 150ft.
Dave Buisch asked why Verizon was granted the variance for 195ft for their tower. Joe said that he did not recall. Dave said that he thought that 150ft. would have served Verizon, so he wondered why they were granted the variance for 195ft.
Laurie Crane asked about the coverage of the 195ft tower. There was discussion about the various coverage areas with the different heights.
Larry asked if the county and emergency services could be taken care of on the 150ft tower. Stephen said that it would depend on what height they would need. It's also possible that AT&T could actually be bumped down on the new tower if the emergency services needed to be at the top. FCC dictates that Health and Safety services come first. There was discussion about whether this only applies to new towers. Amy was going to check into it. Joe asked about fees and Stephen responded that it would be free. Laurie Crane stated that if the County wanted to collocate on the Verizon tower, there would be a fee. Laurie also talked about the new radio plan for the county which would require more sites. Larry added that there is a real lapse in coverage for this part of the county.
Joe still felt that not enough had been done to prove that collocation on the Verizon tower was not a viable solution. Stephen said that although Verizon's attorney said that they are willing to allow collocation, in other similar situations, Verizon never gets to the point of giving AT&T a lease. In Joe's opinion, that does not mean that the same thing will occur in Huron and he wondered what efforts had been put forth by AT&T since the attorney's response. Stephen said that after the Zoning Board meeting, AT&T had moved forward on the Lummisville site and did not have any further communication with Verizon.
Jim Woodward said that if they pursued collocation, there seemed to be opposition from two areas - Verizon and the neighbors of the water tower. He asked that if collocation were to be considered again, that the neighbors of the water tower be surveyed to find out how they would feel about it. AT&T would not want to invest the time and money to analyze the site if there was going to be a lot of resistance.
Joe said that although there is competition between Verizon and AT&T, there are still monetary benefits for Verizon if they allow the collocation in order to defray some of the tower costs.
Amy said that she still had a couple of questions about the application. She said that the part about the "urban bat" was still in there, stating that we were an urban area and would need to be taken out. Also, Amy referred to a noise study which referenced a town in New Hampshire. Amy wondered if that were also an error or if that was a generic study for that generator. Stephen said that the noise study is a generic one for the generator. Amy advised that they might want to add a page showing New York's noise standards.
Joe said that he could support a 150ft tower; he feels that for anything beyond that, they have not passed the test for the variance and shown why they need anything over 150ft. He said that a 150ft tower is consistent with our law and would certainly improve coverage within the town.
Larry feels that more coverage is desirable and if the emergency services needed to be on top of a 150ft tower then AT&T would be lower and coverage would decrease.
Joe Snyder and Jim Woodward discussed the different types of antennas that could be used allowing emergency services to be at the same level as AT&T. Jim added that many counties were moving to microwaves which require site to site transmissions.
Charles would support the 195ft tower.
Chris would also support the 195ft tower.
Larry Lockwood moved, seconded by Charles Boogaard to recommend approval of the 195ft tower on Lummisville Rd.
VOTE: AYES: 3 NAYS: 1 ABSTAINED: 0 **(see added note below)
(Jack McGuire was absent)
Joe Snyder said that the recommendation of the Planning Board will be that the Permit be approved but with the following caveats. The board wants a tower that won't be lit and they also want the tower to be made available for Federal, State, County, Town and Emergency Services at no cost. It should also be available to other carriers for collocation.
Amy informed the board that MRB would be doing a technical review of the application and providing a report to the Zoning Board for their December meeting. Joe asked if they offered RF expertise. Amy said they did not. Joe thought it was advisable in order to address tower height.
Amy asked how the different agencies are notified about the tower. Jim said that the agencies usually approach them. SBA has to register the tower with the FCC and then he assumes that they notify the agencies.
Amy will check the Federal regulations. Stephen said that they would check with SBA as to what part of the regulations she would need to look at. Amy said that if the regulations were specific, then the Planning Board recommendations would not have to be so specific.
Joe will request that the Zoning Board ask MRB to do an RF study.
** Joe Snyder voted No stating that they had not met their obligations for a variance nor demonstrated why they need to be above 150ft.
2. Master Plan
Charles looked over the materials sent by Mr. Frantz and thought that it looked good. He didn't know where it stood with the Town Board. Chris suggested contacting Sharon Lilla for advice. Dave Buisch said that he thought that the Town Board had put money in the proposed budget for the project.
Joe was concerned about exactly what Cornell will be doing. Dave Buisch said that when Mr. Frantz found out that there was an old Master Plan, he thought that it would be an excellent place to start. Joe wondered what would be required of the town. Dave Buisch said that those things would have to be discussed. Joe thought that the Town would certainly have to take some leadership in the project. Joe thought that it would fall under the responsibility of the Planning Board and maybe 1-3 people from the Town should be involved. He would hope that perhaps 2 members of the Planning Board and 1 or more Town Board members would stay engaged with the people from Cornell and report monthly to their respective boards. Dave Buisch thought that another meeting was needed to be held with Mr. Frantz before committing to the project. Joe clarified that the Town Board intends to budget $12,000 in the next calendar year for this project; that there should be some contact to notify the Cornell professor of our intentions and to secure our spot next semester. Then we need to know what the next step is and let them know that the Town wants to be actively involved. Charles will need to contact Mr. Frantz to give him an update.
Charles and Chris will try to set up a meeting with Sharon Lilla and make use of county resources.
Laurie Crane will check with Shirley to see what was actually done budget-wise at the last meeting.
3. Outdoor Woodburning Furnace Law
Dave Buisch reported that when the Town Board discussed it there was still opposition to certain provisions and they wanted to send it back to the Planning Board but then decided that would be unfair since the Planning Board had already done so much work on it. The Town Board decided that they needed to go over the issues and come to consensus. Laurie thought that the board may need to have to set up a workshop to do that.
4. Recreational Trails - Chris Kenyon
Chris had spoken to the Senior Biologist Jim Eckler from Montezuma and found out that he is in charge of the DEC land in our area and all the Lakeshore units. Chris asked about a possible trail on State land and Jim said that if it's an existing walkable trail he could have the Butler people clean it up. Chris was looking at the old Girl Scout Camp which is now State land. Mr. Eckler was concerned that it was a Wildlife Management Area and he would be concerned about advertising it. He was concerned because hunting is allowed there. Chris said that he and Mr. Eckler were going to look into other areas in Huron. Chris said that it may be possible that the times to use the trails could be restricted so that it didn't interfere with hunting.
5. D&L Disposal Property
Roger Gallant was unable to be at the meeting so this will be placed on the next meeting's agenda.
6. Crescent Beach
Larry had an email from Jack McGuire regarding building that is occurring on Crescent Beach. The board thought that Roger could respond to the email.
New Business
1. County Planning Board Monthly Report
Larry said that there was nothing that pertained to the Town of Huron. He reported that Sue Pullen, the Secretary to the County Planning Board was retiring as was Planning Board Member Doc Malchoff. With the permission of the board, Larry will send cards from the Town of Huron.
Adjournment: Chris Kenyon moved, seconded by Joe Snyder to adjourn the meeting at 9:25PM
Respectfully submitted,
Kathy Grandjean, clerk
Email communications
During the month of October the following emails were received:
10/2/09 - from Charles - a forward from Mr. Frantz regarding Recreational Trails
10/6/09 - from Charles - a forward from Mr. Frantz regarding the PB meeting the previous night
10/9/09 - from Charles - a forward from Mr. Frantz stating that sample plans had been sent
10/13/09 - from Stephen Woodward (AT&T) stating that copies of the revised application had been sent
10/19/09 - from Amy Reichhart regarding placing the Cell Tower on the Nov agenda
