Mr. Rizzardi added nothing to the staff report regarding the details of the subject |
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project. He pointed out the list in the staff report which indicates other current sites of |
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cellular towers in the city. The staff report also includes informational comments not |
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specifically related to the subject site which will be useful in future reviews of cellular |
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towers by the Planning Commission. The Planning Department is experiencing an |
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influx of applications for monopoles. Applications have been received for three |
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additional sites: Sprint is requesting co-location on the Edison Tower in the Bloomer |
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Park area; Air Touch wants to rezone property to Industrial off Hamlin Road which is |
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master planned for Industrial; AT&T is looking at an antenna on Crittenton Hospital. |
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Monopoles are very site specific and have a very limited target range for their |
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locations. Through the increase in use and the number of competitors in the market, |
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more such facilities need to be constructed. The Planning Department attempts to |
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maximize co-location opportunities with all the wireless providers. The maximum |
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number of antennas on one pole is generally two; usually anything more requires a |
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change in the pole structure to a lattice-type structure. The City of Rochester Hills |
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ordinance specifically requires monopole structures. Most of the towers currently |
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being constructed in the city can accommodate two users. The problem is that it is not |
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always possible to add a second carrier to an existing tower because of range |
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difficulties. To make matters worse, Ameritech and AirTouch, the established |
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companies, are very reluctant to let their competitors co-locate on their towers; |
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however they are willing to trade one-for-one. But since they are already 90 percent |
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built and AT&T is only 10 percent built, they still would have the advantage. In |
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talking with AT&T , Sprint and Nextel, the three newest franchises authorized by the |
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federal government, they all have agreed to allow each other to co-locate on their |
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towers. The deadline issued by the federal government for all franchises to get their |
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networks in place is August 31, 1997; but that deadline has since been relaxed. |
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That’s why we are seeing so many applications now. |
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