01/13/2004 Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Planning Commission is invited, there should be at least one representative there, they can report back at the next meeting. The Commission is not trying to delay this in any way. They asked a simple question on December 23. The map before the members did not come from Sprint. If the Board had come to the meeting and said they looked at every possible square inch on that site and determined the proposed location to be the best, he would back off and say he has to believe in the School Board. However, what the Board said indirectly is that Sprint said "here's a good site and it makes sense to us. We didn't really think of any other sites. We talked about some others but we didn't think of any others." Here is an opportunity for everyone to get together and find the best solution within a less than desirable situation and move forward on it. Mr. Adams agreed completely and said he is not familiar with the City's process but the frustration from their end is that everything the Commission speaks of, they have looked at from their perspective. 1VIr. Koeth said Sprint did not share that with them. Mr. Adams said they have shared a ton of sites with other boards they have dealt with. They have to look at the sites from an RF perspective. If it doesn't work, it is not worth building. Once they find a few candidates when they go out there, they will only be seeing it from their perspective but when they go out there as a group, Sprint can see it from everyone's perspective and agree on something. Mr. Koeth said they have dealt with other cell carriers who have conceded to moving towers to different locations and were still able to get the RF factor. The Commission sees this as giving information to the Board of Education to have them consider another location for a couple of different reasons. The Commission wants to do it in a way that is acceptable to the neighbors as well. Mr. Hreha said he can appreciate that Mr. Adams is not familiar with our process but it is our process and every other developer has to deal with it. Sprint can work with the clerk and work with the office to find out about the process, it is not difficult. When the Commission asks them to do something but they have to do it themselves, that is not really because Sprint doesn't understand the process, that is because they ignored it. Mr. Adams said he is speaking only for himself when talking about the process. Mr. Richards and Ms. Habinski know the process very well. He is on the construction end. Mr. Koeth suggested that if Sprint has questions or concerns they should direct them to Ms. Wenger, our Director of Planning. Mr. Adams said they will make the contacts to ensure there are no other boards or steps in the process that they miss. When they go to look at the site it will be the last time they all have to deal with it, because they don't want to go out there any more than they have to. Mr. O'Malley said if a meeting like that is scheduled it would not be a formal public meeting but nonetheless, members of the Council, the Administration, should all be invited. He would discourage a majority of the Planning Commission from attending the meeting for the reason it would be construed as a public meeting. Mr. Steve Fannin, the radio frequency engineer for Sprint, came forward to say the reason the site is being built is due to his request. The location is only good if it works from an RF perspective. He knows some of the moves the Commission has suggested are short moves and it would make little difference. He did look at a hypothetical location at the soccer field and originally by design this site should have been north of here. The history of this site, which began in 2000, is they have aone without providing coverage in an area they are licensed by the FCC to provide coverage to because they did not have a location. This location at the school was from an RF technical perspective. The southern-most limit of how far south he can go is actually north of the proposed site. The reason he personally okayed the site is he lives in North Olmsted. He would love to see the school get the money but this is stretching on and on. In the meantime, he is explaining to his managers why they are not serving their customers. As an alternative, he can build two sites that are half the centerline height that would cover the same area but then you are asking for two sites. They are trying to balance things but they are hitting four years for working with the City at which point they really have no coverage for their customers in the defective area of coverage. The area of the school is really the southern-most limit. He isn't saying he couldn't go to the parking lot. He is saying most engineers on his staff would not have approved this. He approved it because he lives here and wants the school to get the money. Mr. Hreha said the Commission is really just asking them to look at the site across the creek and he can't image it is more than 20 or 30 feet away. Mr. Fannin agreed. He said he wants the Commission to be aware of where he is coming from technically. Mr. Hreha asked how far north the ideal location is from the spot now proposed. Mr. Fannin said originally the ring was issued in May of 2000 and the 8