07/22/2003 Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mr. Satarawala said if he were to find out that O.D.O.T. could really research the area south of the highway, and O.D.O.T. says they are 100% sure they own the right of way, and he talked to Dave Conway or Tom Rymarczyk, he asked if the board would then approve this recommendation to go before the Architectural Review Board. Mr. Hreha said he cannot speak for the board but in his case, it would probably change his opinion significantly. He said he is intimately familiar with Cingular's problem of lack of service in the area. He referred to his comments from the last meeting. He is still not sure that the only answer is tower location. He believes there are other technological answers because AT&T seems to provide service in this area and they don't have a tower. Mr. Satarawala said he is very familiar with Mr. Hreha's dissertation from the last meeting and if he would allow him full process, he will explain that he is here at this site because the city's building department sent him there. Mr. Koeth asked if there is a better site. Mr. Satarawala said as shared, and as the propagation map shows, there are sites that were alternately considered that do not meet the coverage. He said he believes their RF engineer, Mr. Kovitch, explained at the last meeting that per the FCC they are required by federal law to provide coverage. The area is best covered by the site at Stearns Road. He said that Mr. Hreha's comments about his phone not working should be enough proof that their phones do not work in this area. They also have various collocations with AT&T and he believes this was explained at the last meeting but maybe it was not understood. He said on the towers that AT&T has north of the site, AT&T reserves the highest spot on the tower. He said when they collocate on a tower they are asked for a minimum of 10 feet of separation. They may not be the second antenna on the tower; they may be the third or the fourth. He said AT&T and Cingular are competitors and AT&T will not allow them to use their network. They need to create their own network, which is why they need this site. It is in the very center of the ring on the map. He said the issue on the south side of the ring can be easily resolved by a letter with O.D.O.T. saying they do not own full easement to the site and then there is not another option. There are no other technical gadgets out there aside from cell towers and antennas. There are no tall buildings in this area. He has exhausted that opportunity. They looked at Olmsted Township and there are two sites, #1 and #2, and the O.D.O.T. property is #3. He said that #3 is closer to a highly, densely populated area with Olmsted Township residents. Those sites were looked at by their RF engineer and he had explained at the last meeting that if they did locate on the CEI tower south in Olmsted Township or at Rodger's Towing, they would not reach the signal. Moreover, there are towers already to the south of the intersection that cover that area and there would be interference issues. He said what he is saying is the absolute truth, he does not know of any other technology that currently exists in that intersection of I-480 and Stearns Road that Cingular can implement besides going on the permitted use. He reminded the board this is a permitted use and it is where the city asked him to go. They need a height of 150 feet to maximize their coverage. They are required by the FCC to only emit about 300 watts per sector and that is for safety reasons. That is why you see towers every mile and a half and in densely populated areas. Towers can only accept a certain amount of calls per second. After a while you get dropped calls. They cannot duplicate AT&T's network, or Nextel's. He is not here representing those companies but he has represented them in other areas. He is here to represent Cingular who has demonstrated effectively that there is zero coverage and a member of this board has confirmed that. He said they are following the letter of the law in terms of the minimum standards for construction. Mrs. Hoff-Smith commented that O.D.O.T. is requiring them to have the 190-foot tower yet 150 feet would be sufficient. She asked if O.D.O.T. has ever made an exception to the 190-foot requirement. 1VIr. Satarawala said the state has something called the "mark system" that relays 10,000 radio units around the state such as weather patterns, fire and emergency calls. He said that 911 calls are best achieved with higher towers. He said they did a FAA study because this is in the flight pattern to Cleveland airport. He said the FAA restricted the T- Mobile tower to 160 feet, so if the FAA comes back and indicates they can only go to 160, that is when O.D.O.T. would say it is ok. He said they have been asked to build at 190 because the mark system works better at that height. It benefits all travelers going through North Olmsted and the residents. 1VIrs. Hoff-Smith pointed out that people are not supposed to be talking on cell phones while driving through North Olmsted. Mr. Sataravvala shared a photo rendering of the site. 10'Ir. Koeth asked him 5