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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1996 10 02 Minutes MINUTES OF THE CALNO MEETING held Wednesday, October 2,1996, 7:00 P.M., Oviedo City Hall Council Chambers, 400 Alexandria Boulevard, Oviedo, Florida. 1. There was a moment of silent meditation, Pledge of Allegiance, and the meeting was called to order by Chairperson Cindy Gennell. 2. Roll Call Larry Strickler (arrived at 7:15) Commissioner Cindy Gennell Commissioner Pat Fernandez (absent) Commissioner Earl McMullen Commissioner Gary Brender Commissioner Ron Sargent Councilman Tom Hagood, Jr. Commissioner Whitey Eckstein Commissioner Pat Warren (absent) Seminole County School Board Winter Springs Altamonte Springs Casselberry Lake Mary Longwood Oviedo Sanford Seminole County Commission 3. Approval of September 11, 1996 minutes. Motion made by Councilman Hagood to approve the minutes of September 11, 1996, seconded by Commissioner Brender, and carried unanimously. 4. Treasurer's Report Commissioner Brender reported the current balance of$597.70 and addressed the monthly service charges. Motion made by Commissioner Sargent to approve the Treasurer's Report, seconded by Councilman Hagood, and carried unanimously. 5. Appointment to Seminole County Expressway Authority Motion made by Councilman Hagood to have CALNO recommend Commissioner Whitey Eckstein to be the representative to be added to the list for consideration, seconded by Commissioner McMullen, and carried unanimously. Chairperson Gennell questioned if there was a need to take the appointment back to each City for ratification. It was concluded that each member will take the recommendation back to their City for approval. This will be finished next month. 6. Discussion regarding County-Wide Agreement on Communication Towers Councilman Hagood introduced John Ariale of the law firm Katz, Kutter, Haigler who represented Prime Co Personal Communications. Mr. Ariale introduced Mike Lamb, the Manager of Site Acquisition & Zoning - Orlando, PrimeCo; Amy Greene, Site Acquisition Specialist for NextWave Telecom, Inc., and Jeff Pierson, PrimeCo's Radio Frequency Engineer. CALNOMINUTES, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1996, PAGE 2 Mr. Lamb provided background information related to their company. Mr. Ariale explained the new types oftowers. Mr. Pierson addressed capacity requirements and information on frequencies and towers. Mr. Strickler expressed his concerns related to the number of towers being constructed throughout the County. He explained that he brought this up at the last meeting because of the efforts with Winter Springs and reading about the industry and thought unless there is a plan like a comprehensive plan for getting the industry to cooperate so we minimize the number of towers, there will be numerous towers throughout the County which he did not want to see happen. He stated the industry should help come up with the solution, rather than the municipality being put in a position of getting to the point where they say a plan is needed. He reported the temporary moratorium in the City of Lake Mary because they are already to that point. The technical differences between PCS (Personal Communication Services) and Cellular-type towers were addressed. Also discussed was the providers being provided space on the same tower to help minimize the number of towers throughout the County. Mr. Ariale commented that the private providers and City governments must work together and that he has already sat down with City planners in Orlando, Orange County, Casselberry, Lake Mary, Oviedo, and all other major jurisdictions. He continued he has seen a very cooperative effort and an increase in cooperation in the last year because of the other companies now involved. He stated they have numerous co-location opportunities and that the responsible ordinances that have come out of the cities are good ones that look to a camouflage-type technique and a co-location. Those two options have been given more priority in the planning stages. He stated there also needs to be some flexibility related to the type of tower and the number of users on each tower because at times the number of users may not be physically possible because of engineering constraints. Addressed was proprietary information that the provider can not provide. Mr. Ariale pointed out ordinances in existence related to this issue and that a lot of jurisdictions have tried to give the companies incentives to work together and felt that was the best way to handle it. The need to avoid the long permitting process and streamline the approval process was also addressed. Commissioner Brender suggested that everyone sit down with the industry and share the proprietary information, but as an encouragement on the providers side to go ahead and do that and if the City knows that they can sit down with the various providers and plan every location within the City that towers will be needed, then Lake Mary would be willing to permit the site plan all at once. Mr. Strickler stated he was not sure there could be a County-wide solution; that some cities have total control and others have no control which will ultimately hurt the citizens. He stated you need to start somewhere and that the provider does not have to turn over everything that is proprietary in order to work together. CALNO MINUTES, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1996, PAGE 3 Commissioner Gennell stated if we prevailed on the County to put a moratorium on all these towers and if each one of them pinpointed where they wanted their towers and laid them over a map of the County, she did not see why this could not be done. She questioned if all the details were not laid out, but only show the location and height of the towers, does that give away the whole story related to proprietary information. Mr. Ariale stated the ordinances now in place are doing exactly that, maybe not as fast or as comprehensively as everyone would like. He addressed the separation distances between tower facilities, and if the City tells them they have to go so many feet away from an existing tower, then they are forced to find a provider that has the tower that he is trying to get away from. He stated that is the purpose behind the separation distances in the ordinances. Towers being constructed in residential areas were discussed. After further discussion, Commissioner Gennell stated she liked the idea of getting the permitting process for all the towers out of the way first, so they do not have to come before the Commission every time a tower comes in. It was addressed that would have to be County-wide. After further discussion, Mr. Strickler stated that cities need to work together for a common cause and getting the existing industries and any governmental entity that wants to participate should do so. Mr. Ariale provided copies of the Orange County, Seminole County, and City of Casselberry ordinances for review. The growing demand for towers was addressed by Mr. Strickler who stated there is no time like the present to start having some by-laws. Commissioner Brender addressed the problems experienced in Lake Mary in relation to the moratorium. The formation of a telecommunications task force in Orange County to address tower issues was reported and that they invited the industry to participate in discussions and that they wrote one ordinance for the whole County so that everyone knew the plan. Mr. Lamb stated they have been working with different communities in the past few months and did not want to build unnecessary towers, but hoped to be able to put their antennas on someone else's facility. Mr. Lamb stated their primary goal was to share facilities. Commissioner Brender suggested that CALNO set aside time at a future meeting where they can discuss some of the options presented and at some future time, if the County decides to get together, it will have already been discussed. Mr. Lamb stated they are willing to come to meetings to help out and provide whatever input they can. The PrimeCo and NextWave Telecom representatives left the meeting at this time. CALNO MINUTES, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1996, PAGE 4 Commissioner Gennell questioned if they would want to approach the County as CALNO. Commissioner Brender agreed this was a good idea from a standpoint that they have not discussed this at length, but have gotten an abbreviated entrance into it. He suggested they go back to their cities, make a report on what has been heard tonight, but at the same time, plan on coming back to a future meeting where the cities and some invited guests can sit down and see if there might be something they can all agree on as individual commissioners and then see if they can bring some kind of unified position back from CALNO to each commission to try and get approval. Mr. Strickler suggested checking with the Florida League of Cities and others to see what is being done in other parts of the state to try and avoid reinventing what has already been accomplished. Councilman Hagood suggested if they decide their goal is to go in this direction and they want to come up with something that is either a County-wide ordinance or the same ordinance for all the municipalities that have the same type of space requirements, you could get there a lot faster if staff was directed to get together with the providers, utilize existing ordinances, devise something they can live with, and then approach the municipalities and ask if they want to adopt this. Commissioner Gennell questioned if everyone wanted to approach the County to set up a task force for that purpose. Councilman Hagood stated if they go back to their cities and say they feel a good approach is to get all the staffs together and develop an ordinance and everyone agrees that is what they want, have it adopted. Commissioner Eckstein suggested everyone go back to their City Manager and come back to the next meeting and see if there is a common thread. After discussion, it was agreed not to suggest forming a County task force. Mr. Strickler commented on staff planners forming a staff task force and use the information from other counties to accomplish this. Commissioner Brender commented on the extended time it takes to develop an ordinance because of going back and forth between staff and the commissioners for approval. He was concerned about having the numerous staffs getting together to try and accomplish this. Winter Springs City Manager Ron McLemore addressed talking independently with the different companies and the various co-locations within their City. He stated he felt those different locations will serve their community for some time into the future. After discussion related to a mission statement, Mr. Strickler stated the mission is to have the technical staff of each municipality work together with the industry, either PCS or cellular, to develop a plan to minimize towers now and in the future and report back in 6 weeks. This has already been accomplished in South Florida. CALNO MINUTES, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1996, PAGE 5 Motion made by Commissioner Brender that each one of us take back to our respective commissioners a request from CALNO to encourage each city to appoint a planner to participate within 30 days to work together with the industry, either PCS or cellular, to develop a plan to minimize towers now and in the future and let the cities go out and do this within 30 days and see what they come up with. Motion seconded by Mr. Strickler. It was decided that staff would coordinate the meetings and determine what needs to be accomplished after they are given direction related to where they need to end up. Commissioner Gennell questioned when they should expect results. It was determined they should report some type of commission approval or at least an overview of how this can be accomplished by their last meeting in November and then give direction to go accomplish this. Commissioner Gennell questioned if this would result in an interlocal agreement. It was pointed out it may end up that way and would probably be more effective, but that staff could determine this. Motion carried unanimously. 7. Unfinished Business Commissioner Eckstein provided sample CALNO stationary. After discussing the various samples provided to choose from, each commissioner selected their number one choice. The new stationary was agreed on. 8. New Business Commissioner Gennell suggested that when a new CALNO chairman is re-elected and the by- laws are reviewed at the beginning of the year, that they revisit having an alternate to attend the CALNO meetings to be sure there is always representation by each City. Motion made by Commissioner Eckstein to assign an alternate assigned from each City to attend the meetings when the regular member can not attend and to revise the by-laws to reflect this, seconded by Commissioner McMullen, and carried unanimously. Councilman Hagood suggested to computerize the letterhead, adding the board members listed at the bottom of the page. Future members could easily be changed. 9. Reports from Members Mr. Strickler reported he is leaving CALNO, was happy to have served, and he does not have a replacement yet and will not have one until December. Councilman Hagood presented another idea related to the letterhead stationary. He addressed that Seminole County and the School Board should be added on the map at the top since they represent the whole County. This was agreed on. CALNO MINUTES, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1996, PAGE 6 10. Adjourn meeting Motion made by Commissioner Eckstein to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Commissioner Brender, and carried unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 8:45 P.M. Commissioner Cindy Gennell CALNO Chairman