Orange County — Board of Zoning Adjustment

SE-01-08-057 — Florida Power Corporation

Request: "At electrical substation site for Variances to the tower-to-residential and the tower-to-tower separation requirements for a new communication tower. NOTE: New communication tower will be 140 ft. in height and will replace existing 65 ft. tall utility pole. The Variances are as follows: 1. 620 ft. in lieu of 700 ft. from single family residences at 7505 and 7511 Quail Pond Street; 2. 65 ft. in lieu of 280 ft. from vacant, unplated R-3 zoned property to the west; 3. 100 ft. in lieu of 1,500 ft. from existing monopole communication tower to the east (also located on Florida Power electrical substation site)."

Decision: Approved

Hearing: "The applicant has an existing utility pole (65 feet in height) located on an existing substation site, which they wish to replace to accommodate communication antennas (140 feet in height) for a cellular phone company. The applicant wants to replace the utility pole with additional height for a second cellular phone company. In this case, the additional height exceeds code thresholds by 20 feet. Therefore, the replacement pole is now considered a new communication tower and must, therefore, comply with all the separation requirements. The new tower does not meet the tower-to-residential separation requirement regarding the two properties stated in the request nor does it meet the tower- to- tower separation due to the approval of a similar request last year (BZA #10 - July 6, 2000) at this property. A community meeting was held prior to the BZA hearing. No citizens attended the meeting. There were no commentaries in opposition, and there was no opposition at the BZA hearing. Staff supported the variances. Staff showed photographs of the area and the subject residential properties. Adjacent to the electrical substation, there is a very large Florida Power easement that contains many tall, massive transmission towers and poles. The subject tower is located in the vicinity of that easement; it is shorter than several of the tall items in the easement and clearly blends in. Therefore, there would be no adverse visual impact over what already exists in the area. The BZA agreed and recommended approval."