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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1127 W. PROSPECT RD., WIRELESS TELECOMMUNICATION FACILITY - PDP - PDP150033 - REPORTS - (9)NEIGHBORHOOD INFORMATION MEETING Project: 1127 W Prospect Road - Wireless Telecommunications Facility Date: June 22, 2015 City Staff: Ryan Mounce (Planning) Clay Frickey (Planning) Summary of Comments, Questions & Responses Question (Citizen): What are different colors on the map? Response (City): They represent different zone districts. This proposal is located in the Neighborhood Commercial Zone District which permits Wireless Telecommunications Facilities. Question (Citizen): Why did a year go by between these meetings? Why wasn’t there some sort of proposal submitted before now? Response (Applicant): My name is Mike, and I represent Atlas Tower Company. This was originally a tower for Sprint. We had multiple meetings about multiple locations in Fort Collins and they had a network plan and so on. As we moved forward, Sprint went through a tough period last year and got some money from a Japanese bank and had to revise their network plan. As a result, they pulled back on a number of sites in Colorado including this one. Between now and then, we kept this site on our map, which is a map of perspective sites and competitor’s sites. Verizon then came forward and was interested. That is the short history. Question (Citizen): Are you saying this tower will only serve Sprint or Verizon customers as well? Response (Applicant): Coverage near the University is so bad that anything within 1,500-2,000 feet will likely be looked at with interest by multiple carriers due to a lack of coverage. The poor coverage is due to the University making it tough for new wireless infrastructure to be built on campus. Question (Citizen): Whose opinion is it that coverage is bad? I have a cell phone on Cricket and I believe Cricket uses the Sprint network. You saw where I live near campus. I have never had problems with coverage. Response (Applicant): What we are looking at is a revolution in the use of wireless devices. It is mostly data. In early 2014, for the first time ever, US data exceeded voice for first time. You have a network originally designed for voice and now you are overlaying data onto that network. Data growth is explosive and some company’s do Voice over Internet, what I am trying to say is that phone connects and talks the data demand is greatly exceeding network capacity. It is getting worse over time. Question (Citizen): Wouldn’t I notice poor coverage on internet and text? Response (Applicant): You will notice it more on internet and less on text messages. Question (Citizen): Is that due to density on campus and the amount of cell phone use? Response (Applicant): Yes. Comment (Citizen): Poor coverage could also be due to our location near the mountains. I used to work in a similar field where I worked on wireless semiconductors so I understand how the waves move. This mountain area right there, my uncle and I have to go outside just to get a call or text. I’ve had many times when my phone doesn’t ring and it says I have a voicemail. I just missed the call. I literally just have to walk outside. Response (Applicant): Where do you live? Comment (Citizen): Heath Ridge. I don’t know if it is due to the building -- I am on bottom floor but when it comes down to it my concerns is whether or not this proposal will help coverage. Comment (Citizen): We have people doing the same where I live. Sometimes I sit on my car to get service. I don’t know if that has to do with mountains or not. Response (Applicant): At this location, I doubt mountains are the issue. The real issue is changing technology and the inability to upgrade existing infrastructure on campus and tight zoning control. Based on zoning, there’s a huge percentage of the city and county not available for this infrastructure. That is by design. We want farms in one place and commercial in another and so on so these guys have a plan for where stuff can go and not and this is one that is zoned for wireless towers so it is a possibility. Question (Citizen): Who is Atlas Tower? Response (Applicant): I will keep this short but this is about the telecom industry. If we were to go back 10 years, all telecoms was building their own networks with their own money and controlling their own cell tower sites. So AT&T built a tower where they needed it. Same with their competitors but they would not share towers with competitors even if it was able to support more. That was the original business model and it was very competitive. Fast forward today and telecom use is exploding and planning and zoning organizations across the US have regulated more tightly the cell sites. One of the things that happened was tall structures became part of land use codes. One of the driving factors on a nationwide basis was the development of colocation. Planning and zoning departments decided they didn’t want 3 towers next to each other. In some parts of Alaska, they are right next to each other and each telecom built their own towers. That was a problem. Planning and zoning started to promote colocation. Telecom became so big that telecoms have started to offload the entire industry of tower construction and maintenance to a new subset of telecoms called tower companies. We are a tower company. We plan the sites based on the telecom’s needs. We work with all of the carriers. Question (Citizen): Will it be consolidated? Response (Applicant): Yes, if Sprint shows up first and Verizon second, we will accommodate them in that order. We own and operate the site, it is a lease back to the carriers and they have long-term leases. We are owners and are the point of contact for the structure. We don’t do any of the smart (antenna) stuff. I jokingly say we do the dumb stuff since we make a structure that makes it plug and play for telecoms with fiber, meter banks, structure, fences, etc. When that is done we are done. Telecoms come in with smart stuff like antennas, owning and operating switching equipment, it is a collaboration. What is unique about my company and other like us is that we are not beholden to any particular carrier. Right now, Verizon is driving this site, but last year it was Sprint. Multiple carriers may collocate at this potential location. We can’t build a naked tower. We can’t say, “let’s build a tower over there.” In some places, you can do that but not here since we have to bring a full plan and details on colocation to even get an application started. So when Sprint pulled back, that is why we took a long siesta. Sprint is interested but they have a budget issue. Verizon has never done a false start with us. When they say go, we go. They provide great service, even though there are pockets where their service isn’t great. Question (Citizen): Is this one of them? Response (Applicant): Yes. Question (Citizen): I have never had problem with my service, who is having problems? Response (Applicant): You can still make phone calls and do some data but the sites that are infill are being driven not by a desire to just build more infrastructure. It’s needed. Here is an analogy for what is happening in telecom. The backdrop is that voice is easy. It was easy to cover 85% of the nation with voice service. Now we have data that could be anything. It could be a picture, a resume, Nextflix, engineering firms moving around huge CAD files for design work, that is taxing the system. The analogy is that you’re young and you’re single and you build a house and you plumb the house with ½” plumbing. Then you get married, now you can’t always take back to back showers but it still works. Now you have 2 kids and you have a problem. This is what we have with existing infrastructure across the USA. We have 3G, 2G equipment that was not designed for data and is being used for it. The data tsunami is here and will only get worse. Bringing this site is about meeting that need. Question (Citizen): How about a compromise? Where does it end? How much coverage do we need? Response (Applicant): I get it; those are social questions I can’t answer. You are unique in that the vast number of consumers want more but you only have one phone. Some people have multiple phones, wireless [printers, wireless computers, and their computer is talking to the thermostat on the wall. That is what is driving the need. I can give you assurance this isn’t a boondoggle. Developing a site like this from start to finish and bringing on two carriers, there will be more than $1 million on this site and it is expensive. It is there because your neighbors and friends are demanding it. It is not Verizon saying we want to shove it down their throats. We want to meet demand and that is how these decisions get made. Comment (Citizen): But they create demand by feeding things they think they need. I get it. Response (Applicant): One thing I can say that jump from 2G to 3G to LTE is that, basically, the new equipment is scalable. I mean earlier versions of this equipment had very finite capacity and was not adjustable. The newer stuff Verizon installs is only 4g and LTE, they can be ramped up easily to meet more demand without making radical changes to what is already on site. Typically, they usually operate at a range of frequencies that allows then to simultaneously run multiple frequencies on the same equipment. We hope that we don’t do this 3 more times in the next decade. Comment (Citizen): That would just cost more money if you did. Response (Applicant): This is what I know and what I know about technology is how much better 4G and LTE is than 2G and 3G. 3G didn’t stick around that long. That equipment is being pulled down. Comment (Citizen): 5G and 6G will be coming soon. Response (Applicant): 5G will take a while. Comment (Citizen): I just have a simple phone for emergencies. Most of the time I can’t get through and there I am on the patio trying to get family to check on me. They can leave a message but not get to me. Sometimes my phone doesn’t even ring. I have to run outside before they hang up. I only live 3 or 4 blocks from a tower. My family lives 12 blocks away. They have a tower on Drake and they don’t have service problems. Question (Citizen): My question is obviously we need this tower as it has been happening all over the place. What are some examples of where other towers are, what they look like, how they have benefitted the community, will we cover that? Response (City): We can cover anything you want. Our codes and standards deal with compatibility, aesthetics, and design. If you have feedback for the applicant or City on these topics, that is very helpful to us. Question (Citizen): I am curious about that, where are they, are they in residential areas, I know nothing about this issue. Response (City): Towers are mainly in commercial areas, but there are antennas all over, including in residential areas. A lot of the service coverage s provided by antennas on building roofs. Nearby sites include towers along Drake Rd as well as antennas on the Raintree Athletic Club. There are also many antennas from multiple carriers on the Hilton. You find antennas on lots of the taller buildings around town, especially in the Downtown area. There are antennas on DMA Plaza, or down south on the Good Samaritan Center on Trilby. There’s even some antennas on ball field lights lik eat French Field. Question (Citizen): Are they all 85’ like this one? Response (City): They all vary, I don’t know the exact heights, but the antennas on the PRPA power lines on Drake are taller than 85’. Building mounted antennas on buildings in the 4-5 story range are probably in the 60-70-foot range. The monopine evergreen at Shields and Vine is 75-feet tall. Comment (Citizen): That is a swamp right there. Towers to me are not ugly, it’s just a big tall pole. It’s not unattractive. Comment (Citizen): I just don’t know what they look like. Response (Applicant): Fort Collins has a lot of stealth requirements. South towards Harmony you have a handful of towers disguised as water silos on farm land. Response (City): Most of these examples are in Fort Collins. This is early tower at Harmony and I-25, we don’t allow those types of towers without stealth anymore. One is on the southwest corner in the city and the other one is in Timnath. This one is in the county. The church on Laporte has two that are in the bell tower. They also added a steeple with antennas. Comment (Citizen): Some of these are additions to the buildings themselves. Response (City): The tower ones are at Horsetooth and Shields in the parking lot. This one is at Vine and Shields. This one is near the overpass behind Whole Foods that is supposed to look like a flagpole. These ones are from New Mexico and Italy that are more artistic, almost like sculptures. This one was a unique approach shared with us. Those are some examples. I mentioned there was a meeting last year with the idea of people’s preferences but there wasn’t a clear answer, but there was some preference for a fake evergreen (monopine). So I pulled up some examples of pines so everyone can see the range of tree species they can mimic, branch density, symmetry, etc. Response (Applicant): There are trees around the site so they tend to blend best around other trees. Comment (Citizen): That wouldn’t be too bad over there since there are a bunch of trees. Comment (Citizen): The one on Vine is tough to tell how it would fit in. There aren’t as many trees near that one. Response (Applicant): There are commercial buildings to the north that are 30’ high so depending on how close you are and angles, you will see half or less than half of the tower. Response (Applicant): It will be taller than Rite Aid but the view will be variable. We typically go through a process where we take a photo from a location and create photosimulations to see where it is possible to see less or more depending on the angle. Urban environments are interesting in that your back eventually hits a nearbywall so the most prominent views and sitelines typically runs along the road. The most visual impact you get is from your car typically. To go back for a second, you touched on two things I thought were interesting. One is outside versus inside coverage and the second was proximity or distance from a tower. One is that the newer technology especially, operating at lower frequencies, they have an easier time moving through buildings. When they look at planning, they look at in house and in car overage. New technology will make a big difference on that coverage and will be improved. The other thing people don’t think about a whole lot is that the radio in your phone is variable with the amount of power it puts out. The closer your phone is to the tower, the less power it puts out. Question (Citizen): So battery life would be improved? Response (Applicant): It’s just overall better to be closer. Those are technical things, the design issue is a big deal since it will be a part of the neighborhood. The goals is to meet the technological need and while building something that we hope you can ignore it a month later. Question (Citizen): What radio frequency do you run at? Response (Applicant): Even though it gets super technical, it’s propogational radio waves like the radio in your car. Frequencies are different since once you occupy a frequency, you can’t propagate more than one signal. Cell phone technology is the same. The safety is the same broadly. How that works is the FCC basically runs the show when it comes to radio frequencies in the US. The FCC control of this part of the world is so complete that planning and zoning can’t regulate in this area. The federal laws preempt state laws in this case. It’s like when you go to the pharmacy and buy Advil. The City of fort Collins can’t control the sale and use of Advil since it is controlled by the FDA. Similarly, the use of radio waves is controlled by the FCC. In 1996 it was clear radio waves were about to explode in demand but that was the birth of explosion in mobile devices. What they did was create the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and in the process of creating that act they created a commission and brought in groups to weigh in on different aspects (engineering, health, wattage, use of frequencies, how frequencies can be sold) a whole bunch of stuff. What happened was they created a comprehensive scheme that controls everything that relates to how frequencies can be used. If you trust the Feds, you might not, but the concept is by covering universally all frequencies with one scheme, they can create safety factors using the lowest common denominator. The antennas will be regulated by FCC and by proximity to humans and people. The City of Fort Collins’ only participation is to say to our clients, “Hey, did you use equipment that is compliant with FCC regulations?” If you want more info, I can give you a bunch of pamphlets. The most compelling to me is the statement from the American Cancer Society that says we have not found a correlation between mobile devices and rates of cancer. It’s healthy to be skeptical but it is tightly regulated and we think we are being safe. Comment (Citizen): We’re smothered with it all. Response (Applicant): if we gave all frequencies a color, everything would be black since there are so many in the air. You could pick up millions of things in this room. Question (Citizen): What would the tower look like? Response (Applicant): We like the monopine design. We think it blends well with the natural spaces and wetland and existing trees nearby. Comment (Citizen): My vision isn’t having a tower staring at me when I roll out of my driveway and I would prefer something else. Response (Applicant): We haven’t submitted an application yet and if there was a collective thought with different direction we are open to that. We want to host more than one carrier. If it’s not, you will get another application at another church in the next year. We also want to build something that when we put it up you will forget it’s there. Due to the trees, I like that option and I like the Italian example but that one grabs your eye instead of forgetting about it. Comment (Citizen): I agree, the Italy example is nice but it grabs your attention rather than blending in – I will go to Italy to see that, but we need something that will blend in more with the residential area here like a tree. Response (Applicant): That would be cool but more in an outdoor shopping center or something more commercial. Comment (Citizen): I am fighting to keep the neighborhood feel and it changes all the time. This proposal doesn’t sound like much but if this is going to happen, I and my neighbors would like to see something that blends in and not a monstrosity. Comment (Citizen): I think the tree idea is good and I think it would blend in well. Response (Applicant): You will see it for what it is eventually. Also, part of the application is a landscaping plan and there is some correspondence about this but you know more about that conversation. Response (City): On the ground level, they will have to do landscaping to screen the ground level and shelters, and we ask for coniferous trees for year round screening. I have several photos of the site we can view to get a better idea of the nearby context. Question (Citizen): Is that it? The building at the end used to be DMV, is that it next to that building? Comment (Citizen): DMV was due north of the site. Comment (Citizen): You had a slide that showed it. Question (Citizen): So it’s not behind that one? Is it on Prospect? Comment (Citizen): It’s on the southwest corner of the site. Question (Citizen): Southwest of the Rite Aid or the DMV? Comment (Citizen): This is dollar store and this is Rite Aid. Comment (Citizen): DMV is right up from there. Question (Citizen): So it is away from Prospect next to Heatherridge. So that’s the road you can wind through to get to Heatherridge? Comment (Citizen): This is all Stone Creek, those apartments to the West are Heatherridge. Response (City): I don’t believe we know the exact spot of their proposal on the site just yet. The City has separate standards that may force them to move the site to be further away from the wetlands to create a buffer. Comment (Citizen): Underneath it is a river and canal and it is all wetlands to the south. Response (Applicant): This site has a funny history. As I was told, the original owners asphalted that square to lease it to DMV for motorcycle testing. Comment (Citizen): That’s what we used to do – I had motorcycle testing there. Response (Applicant): That proves you had it together to go that slow on a motorcycle. I didn’t know if that was true and the site was used for that. Comment (Citizen): That would be a tough course. Comment (Citizen): Yea, it’s a small course. Comment (Citizen): There’s a workout building and chiropractic in the same complex now. Response (Applicant): That asphalt spot is our intended location. Comment (Citizen): It’s concrete, actually. Response (Applicant): Either way, there is nothing growing there now. It was made impervious years ago so our vision was to use that exact space since it has been pulled out of nature. Their rules for wetlands, we will comply with, we did do a wetland study that I have in my bag that a professional ecologist did. That report is available if you would like to look at it. Comment (Citizen): I don’t think it will change anything related to water. Question (Citizen): Will the weight of the tower cause a problem since it is a swamp area? Response (Applicant): Even though that is concrete, we will have to dig a hole. We will probably drop the soils in the parking lot temporarily as the hole gets filled with concrete and rebar. Then structure is bolted on top of that. The end result is we will be taking impervious surface and replacing it with another impervious surface. Question (Citizen): How long is construction? Response (Applicant): 30 days typically. This review process can take a long time but the construction process looks like this: a month or two in advance we have ordered structure. A manufacturing company has made it in a factory. Most of these companies are in the Midwest and there are 4 or 5 of them that make towers like Toyota makes cars. We will have that made in advance. The contractor’s goal on day 1 is dig a hole, fill it with concrete, rebar, and fill it back over. The structure then is brought in on truck and crane. It is then erected. Then, we put in conduit and power and we bring in backhaul, which is our connection to the telephone network underground. The site is then fenced per FCC and the jurisdiction’s rules. From there, the telecoms will come in and install their antennas on their schedule. Question (Citizen): Will there be multiple carriers on this site? Response (Applicant): We hope to get Sprint and Verizon. Height will limit the amount of service but that is what we do. We want to provide service to multiple tenants. That is part of our business model. Response (City): Sometimes, City standards and policies are in conflict. We encourage colocation, but we also need to look at compatibility. Do we want a tall tower that can accommodate 4 carriers, or a smaller more discrete design that may only accommodate 2? Question (Citizen): You began with the notion that the whole problem emanates from overuse of cell phones on campus, right? I mean, that is the localized version of it. How many cell towers are on campus? Response (Applicant): I think they only have rooftop equipment, I don’t know their inventory. Response (City): I don’t know what is on campus, I have asked the facilities manager, and he says they don’t do work with the carriers as much anymore. Response (Applicant): I can say what I know is happening. CSU is an Ag school and is run by the State and the Department of Agriculture manages the land and facilities. There is also a special department of the Attorney General that manages all of their contracts for land. We know from talking to our clients since we talk to carriers all the time, they are telling us they are not being allowed to have access to their equipment and upgrade them and they are not being allowed to bring in equipment they need in a timely manner. The university has its primary purpose and cell towers sort of aren’t allowed. Comment (Citizen): It seems like there is good real estate over there for cell towers. Response (Applicant): I would like to build over there but they have had consistent voice in not allowing it so it is what it is. Comment (Citizen): It sounds like the railroad. Question (Citizen): Does that make it right? Response (Applicant): There are different stakeholders all over city so if Toll Brothers has vacant land they don’t want to lease for telecoms they don’t have to. The University is unique in that is on public land. I just know they have consistently said no and are really sort of thwarting development on that land. Question (Citizen): During the meeting a year ago you gave us the owner of the property. Who owns the triangular piece of land adjacent to the site? Response (City): I don’t remember, it is registered to a company and it is public information on the County Assessor website. Question (Citizen): What’s in it for them? Response (Applicant): Rent Question (Citizen): So they aren’t selling? Response (Applicant): My understanding is the company that owns that sold some other parcel, maybe the DMV building, and they didn’t sell this parcel so it is a bizarre patch of isolated land. Response (City): When that retail-shopping complex was approved this site was planned as a 1-story child care or office building, but it was never built. I am not sure, but we can look up the company that owns the land on the Assessor’s website. Comment (Citizen): That must be why parking is available on that strip since the building never got built and that was proposed parking for that building. Response (Applicant): Could be. Parking is a tightly controlled number based on square footage for each use, it’s all complicated. Thankfully, we don’t need parking. Response (City): The City doesn’t have parking requirements for cell facilities; they just need proper emergency access. Response (Applicant): We run into that once in a while where we need parking and we laugh and say ok. The reality is once tower is up, it is typically unmanned. All of the switching is computer controlled via internet. Unless something actually breaks and needs boots on the ground and hands on the equipment, they are typically not visited. Question (Citizen): So the City determines that this is a useful project, there is a need, the aesthetic is right, and they say, “Go ahead and build this?” Response (City): When they submit their development documents, we, and other departments will review it. There could be multiple rounds of review. What we ultimately do is write a staff report and I make a recommendations to decision maker. For this type of project, the decision-maker is an administrative hearing officer. It’s only one person, not many people like the Planning & Zoning Board. Question (Citizen): How is the officer determined or hired? Response (City): The Community Development and Neighborhood Services department has selected several hearing officers to decide on Type 1 or Administrative review projects. There are currently two hearing officers – it could be one of those. In the past hearing officers have typically been land-use lawyers from outside the community. Comment (Citizen): Land use lawyers outside of the city... Response (City): They have familiarity with development codes and land use regulations; they are familiar with the Fort Collins Land Use Code. One is from the Boulder area and one is from Denver. Question (Citizen): I don’t know all of your codes, this is designated as what zoning? Response (City): This is proposed in the Neighborhood Commercial District. Response (City): We have two categories of wireless land uses: Wireless Telecommunication Facilities like monopoles and another called Wireless Telecommunications Equipment, which are antennas. Wireless Telecommunications Equipment is allowed in almost every zone district on larger buildings. Wireless Telecommunications Facilities are permitted generally in commercial, employment and industrial areas. Question (Citizen): This is a Wireless Telecommunications Facility, right? Response (City): Yes. Response (Applicant): It is a subset of all possibilities that permits it, yea? I am just trying to say that before the administrator makes a decision we met land use criteria. The City has made this decision that this would potentially allow this use and that some zone districts won’t. So this one allows for the potential of this use and that, in my world, is the baseline criteria where we look. It’s pointless to try and build this where the use isn’t allowed. It has an assumption of compatibility but you have this process to get to approval. Response (City): We don’t just review just the use when an application is made, we also look at other standards like compatibility, environmental issues, setbacks, etc. Question (Citizen): What percentage of your proposals get denied? Response (Applicant): It depends on the use and where it is proposed. There’s two big possibilities, generally. One is where there is little zoning control. Rural Alaska or Wyoming are examples of this. That isn’t Fort Collins. The other is where you go to a place with tight control and code. If we’re fortunate to put a tower in a place where we can go, our success rate is high. In Denver in the I-3 zone district, you can build a 150’ tower as a right as if you were asking to build a home on a small lot. You know you will likely succeed. At the other end, we could go to a place where the code is tight and it is not an allowed use. An example would be a 150’ tower in a residential area. The likelihood of success for that sort of project is low. So we would have a high failure rate in that case. I would put this proposal in the middle since it isn’t a slam dunk. But we are not trying to drop his into a place where per code that says, “No way, Jose, good luck.” Response (City): It’s hard to say without formal details but the zone district allows the use but we have to review all of the standards and requirements of the Land Use Code. Response (Applicant): It’s tough since I was going in easy places it is high success but not sure about here. Comment (Citizen): I am just trying to imagine the likelihood of seeing an antenna every time I come down driveway. I am trying to prepare myself. Comment (Citizen): Being aware of antenna changes your perspective. Someone who is just driving by would be oblivious. Response (Applicant): I have a monopole nearby and I looked at it every day at first and now I don’t notice it. Response (City): Our City standards do state that stealth designs should be contextual with the nearby area. Recognizing there are many opinions and some may not want this at all, but it sounds as if the monopine design may be one of the top design choices, is that correct? Question (Citizen): Do you ok the design or is it not ok until the design fits the neighborhood? Response (City): It can change after they submit with multiple rounds of review but what they take to hearing is their choice. There is more design room right now because the project hasn’t been submitted yet. Response (Applicant): We want to submit something that makes sense. In a sense, yes, in a sense no, this is a political process of sorts. Only a few of us are here tonight but who knows who else will contribute to the process. Ultimately, hopefully most people will think it is a cool project and the opposite will say this is awful and it’s a mistake and some will be in the between. I call it trundling. Trundling is when you roll a rock down a hill and you want it to go right there but it rolls right and left and you don’t know where it will go. We have a sense of where we want to be, we have a monopine in mind and that is where we’re headed but if consensus said something else we’d do something else. Comment (Citizen): It’s a commercial location but it is completely surrounded by residential and that is the feel of the area so I wonder what people would say. Question (Citizen): What people are going against is if it is an eyesore or not. Is it safe and is it an eyesore? Response (Applicant): Yes, it is safe and it will satisfy every written statement of safety ever by every level of government. Comment (Citizen): I think it would be all right if it is disguised as a tree. I don’t think it will affect the look of the area too much. Comment (Citizen): I bought my place with wetlands nearby and now we have three huge buildings. Response (Applicant): That’s the rub near commercial. We have convenience but the downside is busy streets and noise and I have seen this in every mixed use community ever. There’s tension between the two. Comment (Citizen): I am guessing there isn’t a big issue of people against it. I was surprised there weren’t more people here. Comment (Citizen): A lot of the surrounding developments are rentals so they don’t care. Comment (Citizen): We fight with rentals in our HOAs since they typically aren’t as invested. Our concern is we want to retain the value of our properties and things like this can impact it. Response (Applicant): It’s a mixed bag. I have a mountain rental and some tenants complain because there isn’t any service. That isn’t apropos here but it just depends on what lenses you view it through. Question (Citizen): I heard you saying something about noise. How much noise will this tower generate? Response (Applicant): None. There will be a silent backup system. Comment (Citizen): We have a stadium to worry about noise. Response (Applicant): Most noise is backup system and most urban sites’ first backup is a bank of lithium ion batteries. Their second is a small generator about as loud as a window AC unit. In a developed area, I don’t know why telecoms bother to go beyond battery backup. I assume power is reliable, this isn’t South Africa. We’re in a place where power works 364 ¾ day per year. Comment (Citizen): Red Feather is different but yes. Response (Applicant): In urban areas it dumbfounds me since it is expensive to design and integrate what is a natural gas or propane fired backup generate. They love to put them in. There won’t be any traffic generated by the tower either. Question (Citizen): What about construction traffic? Response (Applicant): So you asked about construction length, our fastest project was completed in 12 days. Our average is 30 days. Sometimes these projects can drag out for 60 or more but if that happens, there will be a lot of time with no activity. Typically these things are caused by someone screwing up job planning. For example, one time we did a geotechnical test and we drilled and we got a report but when we were on site we discovered something surprising underground and we had to reanalyze and restart. Those are rare. When it does happen, there’s total silence. So 30 days is a fair estimate. This is an urban and small site. Question (Citizen): So this will be built next year given the process so far? Response (City): It depends on if or when the applicants submit. For most projects, the review process takes as long as it needs to take to ensure compliance with the Land Use Code. In this case, the federal government has a “shot clock” for these types of wireless facilities, and the City has to review the application within 150 days.