CCP 02-23-2010 - Laserfiche WebLink

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-5 - Commission input before the Public Hearing scheduled on November 17`h, the same day as the Planning Commission meeting. • Viera stated Clearwire is a wireless communication company. They are currently in Atlanta, Boise, Chicago and San Diego offering wireless services to businesses and consumers. His firm has been hired to find 500 sites in the Minneapolis and St. Paul area. Two are in New Brighton Parks; Creekview and Freedom. The proposal for Creekview is to extend the existing AT & T tower from 60 feet to 75 feet. There is an emergency siren on top of the current tower which would be placed at the top of the new extended tower. There would be a small ground cabinet; about 54" tall and about 2 feet deep. Freedom Park is the second site chosen. There is nowhere else to go to cover the area sufficiently. Proposing that the current 70 foot light standard, in the southwest corner of the hockey rink, be taken down and replaced with a more structurally sound pole about 100 ft. and put the lights back at about 70 feet and the antennae at about 100 feet. There would be a ground cabinet there of about 100 sq. feet total (to include the entire structure) There is a meeting scheduled with the neighbors which is scheduled for November 12`h. A letter has been sent out informing them of this meeting. There was some discussion about liability and maintenance issues. Janice Gunlach, City Planner, stated the City has a lease agreement with the carriers and . the City does not assume any liability or maintenance responsibility for the towers. The range of the pole covers about a'/z mile radius. Samuelson inquired if there is a downside to doing this? Gunlach stated there has been an extensive discussion at the Planning Commission and City Council level about these types of structures in parks. One group feels commercial use is not appropriate on park land. Others feel there are some health impacts with these structures. Some groups feel this is a very good source of non -tax revenue for the City in non-active parts of the park. It is a controversial subject. Harreld inquired about the health impact. Gundlach stated some people are concerned about RF (radio frequency) emissions. Some literature that is out there states that a cell tower emits the same amount of RF emissions as a baby monitor. She does not know if that is accurate, but it is what she has seen in literature. Most of the ground equipment is safe, it would be like an electrical box you may have in your front yard. The towers are constructed in 30 foot footings. They are engineered to break in half, so it will • never completely fall down. There have been incidences like in Hurricane Katrina that these did not fall down. Samuelson asked if there was any concern about the ground equipment cabinets. If kids were to fiddle with it, could they get into it and be harmed?