Agenda Package - 12-01-08 - Laserfiche WebLink

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0 27 COUq. 20,pA~ MEMORANDUM H CARD` TO: Lee County Board of Commissioners John Crumpton, County Manager FROM: Marshall Downey, Assistant Director of Community Development DATE: December 1.2008 REF: Recommendation from the Planning Board regarding amendment to exempt certain government-owned public safety telecommunications towers from the standards of the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) The Board will recall that a public hearing was conducted at the October 21s` meeting regarding changes to the UDO to exempt government-owned wireless communication facility erected for the purposes of installing antenna(s) and ancillary equipment necessary to provide public health and safety. For additional background, the Board may recall that Planning staff S has been working with NC State Highway Patrol (NCSHP) authorities over the past year regarding the siting and installation of a new "VIPER" emergency services communication tower along the south side of Tramway Road, at the old airport site and current emergency services/sheriff training complex. In doing so, staff determined that the current UDO language requires government-owned towers to be treated in the same manner as_ private companies. As such, the NCSHP submitted and received approval for a Special Use Permit for a new tower at the aforementioned site. However, as part of the construction process, the UDO also requires a performance bond for 110% of the cost of the tower be submitted to ensure that a tower could be removed in the event it was abandoned by the owner. In discussions with NCSHP representatives, the performance bond was something that simply could not be provided. This spurred further discussions among Planning staff and the Sanford City Attorney and ultimately, additional research and discussion with our telecommunications consultants, Cityscape Consultants (Cityscape provides our third party review of new towers). It was their professional opinion that most commwrities exempt government-owned towers and it was recommended that an amendment to the UDO be made to allow for such an exemption. The Planning Board discussed this item and it was recommended that this amendment be narrowed to exempt these government-owned public safety towers only from the requirement for the performance bond, with all other tower requirements (setbacks, etc.) still being required. With this change, the Planning Board recommended unanimously that the Board of Commissioners consider adopting this amendment. The draft amendment is attached for your O consideration.