Orange County — Board of Zoning Adjustment

SE-00-10-022 — Nextel Communications

Request: Special Exception in C-3 zone to erect a camouflaged communications tower (120 ft. flag pole with flag). Note: will be a single use tower initially but designed for future co-location.

Decision: Approved

Hearing: The Staff Report is located on pages ------. In addition to the concerns stated in the report, Staff stated a concern with the amount of BZA applications that Nextel have been submitting over the past few months; and further, a representative from Nextel had recently told Staff a vast amount of new BZA application were pending submittal. The requests are Special Exceptions for single use towers, and often times include Variance requests from the tower-to-residential and tower-to-tower separation requirements. Staff expressed concern that Nextel was not putting forth sufficient effort to locate sites for antennas that could be co-located on other towers or other infrastructure, in lieu of new tower construction, and they are not utilizing camouflaging in certain cases. Such BZA requests are inconsistent with the intent and purpose of the County's Communication Tower Ordinance. Staff noted that a Nextel representative for public hearing #14 on today's agenda (District #4, near Orange Avenue and Michigan), was requesting a continuance in order to meet with Staff to work out a solution to this overall concern. Staff suggested that the request at hand could also be continued for the same consideration. The representative for this Nextel case stated he understood and appreciated Staff's concerns, and agreed to be a part of the meeting between Zoning staff and the other Nextel representatives. He requested the BZA take action, however, on the current request as he felt he could address the specifics of the staff report on this location. The applicant explained they attempted to locate tall structures in the area. He stated the buildings here were either too short, or structurally insufficient, such as the a nearby billboard, to handle the antennas. There was no public opposition to this request. The BZA in approving the request, noted that the proposed camouflage aspect of this Nextel application was very appropriate for the area. The BZA told the applic*