HomeMy WebLinkAbout011.12.14City of Chubbuck
Land Use and Development Commission Meeting Minutes
November 12, 2014 - 7:00 p.m.
Minutes of the Land Use and Development Commission regular meeting held at Chubbuck City Hall,
5160 Yellowstone, on November 12, 2014.
Chairman Peter Anderson: Commission Members: Rodney Burch, Dan Stoddard, Jay Buttars, Morris
Kinghorn, James Eborn, Ron Horner, Jason Mendenhall, Bryan Nield. City Staff: Steve Smart, Paul
Andrus. Attorney: Tom Holmes. Secretary: Ranelle Simmons
Chairman Anderson called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm.
Mendenhall led the commission in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Anderson asked if any commissioners had a conflict of interest within the items before the board
tonight.
APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES:
Anderson entertained a motion to approve the minutes as delivered. Kinghorn moved the
minutes of October 14, 2014 meeting be approved as mailed; Mendenhall seconded. The full
authority approved.
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARNG
Anderson explained that because of all the correspondence and communication that transpired outside
of the Land Use meeting it was decided to start the process over with T -Mobile's application.
Application from T -Mobile 121 West Electron Road Suite 330, Draper UT 84020 for a Conditional
Use Permit for construction of an 80' wireless facility at Chubbuck Elementary School, 600 West
Chastain Drive, Chubbuck ID 83202.
Rocky Schutjer, 2181 Hugo Avenue Salt Lake City, UT is in attendance representing the T- Mobile
application. Schutjer had a power point presentation for the commission and the residents present. T -
Mobile does not have a cell site location in Chubbuck. Coverage for Chubbuck comes from outside the
city. It will be a monopole tower. Site spacing is usually 1 to 2 miles but in Eastern Idaho it is more like 2
to 3 miles. 3 additional sites were located in Chubbuck but they don't meet the site spacing needs and
are too close to the fairground site. Chubbuck Elementary is the best location being a 12 acre parcel.
Equipment will be inside a shelter and not on a concrete pad as was presented in September. This will
give an extra layer of security access. T -Mobile is willing to discuss whatever fence the commission
would like to see. T -Mobile across Idaho and Utah has 45 tower sites at school locations across 14
different school districts. The second biggest school district in Utah is Davis School District. T -Mobile has
25 sites with coverage inside the schools. Indoor solutions have been installed inside schools in
Caldwell's Vallivue School District.
Questions from the commissioners:
Is chain link typically the fence that is used?
Schutjer: Yes.
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Is there a company that will be co -locating on the tower?
Schutjer: T -Mobile will not actively try to recruit a business.
Why not collocate on an existing tower?
Schutjer: T -Mobile wants to be at the center of the area that is lacking coverage.
City Code outlines several recommended procedure for screening with landscaping.
Schutjer: Landscaping is definitely an open discussion.
There was a letter provided stating that this site would meet the FCC and FAA standards. Could
T -Mobile provide the City of Chubbuck certification periodically that the site is in compliance
with the standards?
Tim, T -Mobile Engineer, Salt Lake City, UT, T -Mobile has an internal process that every
year the sites are checked for FCC compliance. FCC requires that a data base be kept of
every site so they can spot check any site at any time. Tim was unsure how legal affairs
would respond to a request from the city for that information.
Anderson asked for city staff comments. No comments.
Holmes stated that Section 704 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 prohibits Chubbuck from
regulating the placement of a cell tower based on the environmental effects of radio frequency (RF)
emissions. The Federal government will want to know why, if this tower is denied.
Anderson opened the Public Hearing.
Allen Martin lives at 546 Boyd Street, Chubbuck, Idaho. Very opposed. No tower should be built in an R2
area. Tower will be 50 to 70 feet from his back fence.
James Payne lives at 5030 Dorian Street, Chubbuck, Idaho School grounds should not have a tower next
to kids. Verizon has service everywhere in Chubbuck.
Nicki Taysom lives at 4604 Burley Drive, Chubbuck, Idaho. Lights blinking from other towers are already
in Chubbuck. Birds, humming birds and bees are affected. Hearts and brains work off of electrical
impulse and this does emit impulses. Oppose because of health issues.
Liz Renzello lives at 510 Homestead, Chubbuck, ID. Opposed. Mainly because of the safety issues to
children. Will there be background check on workers of the tower? Kids will want to climb on the fence.
Predators can be behind a privacy fence. Not enough research has been done in regards to the
radiation. The tower will impact the view of the mountains. Please look into piggy backing off of
someone else's tower.
Bryan Berls lives at 964 Margaret, Chubbuck, ID. Bryan works around radiation every day at the
accelerator at ISU. Time, distance and shielding is how to protect yourself from radiation. Radiation
travels thru walls. Are we comfortable putting our children next to the tower for all the years they will
be at the school?
Dave McAteer lives at 5023 Joy, Chubbuck, ID. The tower will be in the view from his front window.
What will happen to the property value? Asbestos used to be considered safe. FMC slag is not used
anymore. What about the vacant lot next to the school? The trees on Hawthorne Road would help hide
the tower.
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Rebecca Berls lives at 964 Margaret Street, Chubbuck, ID. The fence needs to be wood, rock or masonry.
Set back for a tower needs to be required. 3 cell phone towers have collapsed in the United States in
2014. T -Mobile has had 4 violations from OSHA this year. Additional radiation if there is colocation
allowed on the tower. The location they have chosen just means they don't have to build a road for
access. At the last public hearing Mr. Reed made the comment that they have not done a lot of research
into the safety of cell towers. There have been very few studies on cancer and cell phone towers.
Kristie Tuttle lives at 4590 Sarah Loop, Chubbuck, ID. Agrees with the concerns of Liz Renzello.
Jeni Crystal lives at 934 Margaret Street, Chubbuck, ID. Opposes the tower. Same concerns as already
mentioned.
Kay Martin lives at 546 Boyd, Chubbuck, ID. Backyard is too close to the tower. Property value will go
down.
Lorraine Mitton lives at 4919 Joy, Chubbuck, ID. Agrees with the comments that have been made
tonight.
Mike Petty lives at 586 Boyd #1, Chubbuck, ID. Agrees with tonight's comments.
Diana Payne lives at 5030 Dorian, Chubbuck, ID. There has to be another location that would be able to
get the coverage they want. Please consider another location that is not in backyards and school yards.
Ralph Baker lives at 755 North Arthur, Pocatello, ID. After observing tonight's meeting it looks like it is
all about the money.
Pamela Hershey lives at 5111 Constitution, Chubbuck, ID. Opposed to the tower.
Anderson closed the Public Hearing.
Anderson asked for the following documents to be entered into the record:
• Email was received from Rocky Schutjer dated September 11, 2014 addressed to Paul Andrus.
• A letter from Rebecca Berls with a petition attached was received by the city on November 3,
2014.
• A Statement of Compliance addressed to the city signed by Mr. Whitlock dated September 10,
2014.
• Letter from Mr. Bart Reed from Pocatello School District #25 to the commission dated
September 10, 2014.
Anderson turned the meeting over to Schutjer to answer questions.
Maintenance
Schutjer: Tower will be fully enclosed by a fence. Preventative maintenance site checks are done
approx monthly. T -Mobile would be happy to work with the school district for any kind of checks
for employees they would like to require. When the site breaks the maintenance is done
immediately.
Will there be lights on the tower?
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Schutjer: No lights will be on the tower.
Property value
Schutjer: Not aware of a study to indicate if property value changes.
Sign on the fence
Schutjer: There will not be a "No climb" sign on the fence.
Use existing sites
Schutjer: Cost to build is expensive. If T -Mobile could get the same result with an existing site
they would.
Why not Stuart Park?
Schutjer: The tower would be closer to residents than at the school.
Commission asked Anderson if they could ask Bart Reed questions.
Bart Reed Director of Business for School District #25 came to the podium.
Has the relocation of the playground been considered?
Reed: Has not been considered. It could get quite expensive to relocate some of the playground
equipment.
Is there a contract in place?
Reed: No. The Board of Trustees is in agreement and would entertain this to be a good
community partner with the City of Chubbuck. School district is waiting for the decision from this
commission.
Background check requirement for service personnel
Reed: Vendor has to ensure that their workers are free of any criminal background. Maintenance
has to schedule when they will be working on school district property by checking in with the
school and make prearrangements. Even if the tower goes down during the day the school
district will require the work be done when children are not around.
Construction of tower
Reed: The time frame would have to be in the summer. T -Mobile has come back with the
enclosure and privacy fence since the September hearing. Equipment around the school district
has chain link fences so the children don't wonder what is inside. Also chain link has less graffiti.
Landscaping would require water and maintenance on an asphalt pad.
Anderson brought the meeting back for commission discussion.
Commission discussed:
• The #1 issue is child safety
• Screening the property
• Tower requirements is a minimum of 120 mph winds
• Should adhere to all of the requirements in chapter 18.13 of the city code
• Fencing concerns
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• City code 18.40.040 C #1
Moving the playground equipment
Decision needs to benefit the community as a whole
Mendenhall moved to deny the application from T -Mobile 121 West Electron Road Suite 330,
Draper UT 84020 for a Conditional Use Permit for construction of an 80' wireless facility at
Chubbuck Elementary School, 600 West Chastain Drive, Chubbuck, ID 83202. Elementary school is
not the location for a cell tower
Eborn seconded.
Anderson asked for any discussion on the motion.
Concerns were to deny the application because it is a school is not a good enough reason.
There were no amendments on the motion.
Roll Call Vote: Burch, No; Stoddard, No; Buttars, Yes; Kinghorn, No; Eborn, Yes; Horner, No; Mendenhall,
Yes; Nield, No; Anderson, No. Motion was defeated.
Following additional discussion Stoddard moved to approve the application from T -Mobile 121 West
Electron Road Suite 330, Draper UT 84020 for a Conditional Use Permit for construction of an 80'
wireless facility at Chubbuck Elementary School, 600 West Chastain Drive, Chubbuck, ID 83202 with the
following conditions:
• Landscaping and screening section 18.13.140 A & B in the city code be met with approval of a 6'
chain link fence
• Impose an 80'set back from the playground equipment. Property line set back is not the
requirement the structure of the playground equipment is subject to the set back
Kinghorn seconded.
No discussion on the motion.
Roll Call Vote: Burch, No; Stoddard, Yes; Buttars, No; Kinghorn, Yes; Eborn, No; Horner, Yes;
Mendenhall, No; Nield, No; Anderson, Yes. Motion failed.
Following additional discussion Kinghorn moved to approve the application from T -Mobile 121 West
Electron Road Suite 330, Draper UT 84020 for a Conditional Use Permit for construction of an 80'
wireless facility at Chubbuck Elementary School, 600 West Chastain Drive, Chubbuck, ID 83202 with the
following conditions:
• 8' chain link fence
• Set back requirement for protecting playground equipment
• No shrubbery requirement
• Receive copies of being in compliance with FCC/FAA emissions requirement annually
Motion dies for lack of a second.
Andrus stated the setback in city code is from the property line.
Following additional discussion Stoddard moved to approve the application from T -Mobile 121 West
Electron Road Suite 330, Draper UT 84020 for a Conditional Use Permit for construction of an 80'
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wireless facility at Chubbuck Elementary School, 600 West Chastain Drive, Chubbuck, ID 83202 with the
following conditions:
• Apply 80' set back condition that will move playground and other permanent structures away
from the base of the tower. The height of the tower will be the radius
• Landscaping requirement as outlined in city code be met in the design criteria. In part an 8'
chain link fence
Nield seconded.
No discussion on the motion.
Roll Call Vote: Burch, No; Stoddard, Yes; Buttars, No; Kinghorn, Yes; Eborn, No; Horner, Yes;
Mendenhall, No; Nield, Yes; Anderson, Yes. Motion passed.
Decision can be appealed to City Council within 25 days.
Anderson entertained a motion to adjourn; Mendenhall made the motion. Horner seconded. All voted
to adjourn at 9:33 pm.
Pee Anderson, Nairman
Ranke Simmons, Secretary
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