Orange County — Board of Zoning Adjustment

SE-00-07-016 — Florida Power Corporation

Request: At electrical substation site in A-2 zone for Variances to the tower-to-residential separation requirements for a proposed new communication tower. Note: new communication tower will be 120 ft. in height and will replace the existing 100 ft. tall utility pole with existing ancillary communication antennas. The Variances are as follows: 1. 550 ft. in lieu of 600 ft. from single family resident at 7505 Quail Pond St.; 2. 165 ft. in lieu of 240 ft. from vacant, unplatted R-3 zoned property to the west.

Decision: Approved

Hearing: The applicant has an existing lightning mast that was replaced with additional height several years ago to accommodate communication antennas for a cellular phone company. The applicant wants to again replace the mast with additional height for a second cellular phone company. In this case, the additional height exceeds code thresholds by 15 ft. 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. The applicant conducted a community meeting 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.