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12-03-97 PCCITY OF OTSEGO PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING DECEMBER 3, 1997 8 - PM OTSEGO CITY HALL 1. Chair Carl Swenson will call meeting to order: Chair Swenson called the Planning Commission Meeting to order at 8:00 PM. ROLL CALL: Present: Chair; Carl Swenson, Commission Member; Ing Roskaft, Eugene Goenner, Jim Kolles, Arleen Nagel, Bruce Rask, and Richard Nichols. Staff: Bob Kirmis, City Planner; Elaine Beatty, City Clerk/Zoning Adm.; Carol Olson, Secretary. Council Representative; Vern Heidner Mayor; Larry Fournier, 2 Consideration of the Planning Commission Minutes of November 19,1997& Arleen Nagel - Page 3, the word change should be chance. BRUCE RASK MOTIONED TO APPROVE THE PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 19, 1997, WITH TYPO CHANGE. ARLEEN NAGEL SECONDED THE MOTION. ALL IN FAVOR. MOTION CARRIED. B. A Conditional Use Permit to allow a radio transmission tower(500') in an A-1 Zone (Agricultural - Rural Service Area District:) Chair Swenson went over the applicants request. Elaine Beatty noted that the proper publishing, posting and mailings have been done. Bob Kirmis - Mr. Dennis Carpenter, on behalf of Milestone Radio, has submitted a request to erect a 500 ft. high radio transmission antenna (and support structure) upon a 4.0 acre parcel located south of Co. Rd.37 and west of Kadler Avenue. Presently, a 260 foot UPA transmission tower exists upon the property. There is a WDAY tower approximately 400 feet to the northeast, and a 100 foot US West tower approximately 600 feet to the northeast. PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING of December 3, 1997 cont'd Page 2 To accommodate the proposed antenna erection, the following approvals are necessary: 1. A zoning ordinance amendment establishing commercial, public radio and television transmitting and public utility microwave antennas and support structures as conditional uses in the A-1, District. 2. A conditional use permit to allow the erection of a radio transmitting antenna and support structure within an A-1, District. 3. A planned unit development conditional use permit to allow more than one principal structure upon a single lot of record. Presently there is an existing 260 foot UPA tower on the site). The current zoning ordinance allows radio transmitting towers only in I-1, Industrial District. Four options looked at for processing would be: 1. Rezone property to I-1. We do not recommend that, it would create a spot zone and also establish that all uses allowed in that district could also locate on the property (machine shops, warehouses, etc.). 2. Process a Variance - The Ordinance does not allow the processing of a "use" variance (so described) so not a viable option. 3. Amend the Ordinance to allow radio transmission towers within the A-1 Zoning District. Recognizing that a rezoning of the property to an I-1 designation would likely establish an undesirable precedent, the Ordinance could be amended to conditionally allow radio transmission antennas (and support structures) within A-1 Zoning Districts. 4. Establish a new zoning district which would be specific to antennas. The drawback would be a possible conflict with the Telecommunications Act by restricting antenna locations to a relatively isolated area of the City. If the ordinance is amended to allow antennas in the A-1, Agricultural Rural Service District, a precedent will be set and potentially open up a lot of land within the City for the location of radio transmitting antennas. These type of requests are infrequent. In the Twin City's area there have been no FM radio transmission towers constructed in the last ten years. The Zoning Ordinance does require co -location attempts. With other proposals, we have required that antennas be structured to accommodate other users. If approved, the applicant would also be required to provide for future antennas on the structure. The ordinance does not incorporate specific setbacks for guy wire components. Principal building setbacks for the district have been applied. The applicant is concerned that these may not be satisfied. An option would be to change the draft amendment to address this issue. NAC recommended option number three. Should the Planning Commission determine this to be an appropriate use in that District, NAC recommends approval of the request subject to 14 conditions listed in NAC's report dated November 19, 1997, which he read. PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING of December 3, 1997 cont'd Page 3 Chair Swenson went over the public hearing procedure. Chair Swenson opened the hearing to the public. No one wished to be heard. Discussion was brought back to the Planning Commission. Bruce Rask asked who determined the 500 foot height. Bob Kirmis - That issue was raised after the report was made. At the original staff meeting the applicant indicated that 500 feet was necessary to have the antenna function as intended. There is information that that height may not be necessary. Vern Heidner - (With a family background in broadcast electronics) Attended the staff meeting on November 13, 1997, and when the 500 foot height came up it didn't sound right. He had a copy of the Federal Regulations 47, CFR, Sec.73.211. At the staff meeting the applicant indicated that it would be a class C-3, FM station transmitting tower and per those regulations, a C-3 is limited, by law, to a height of 328 feet on regular terrain of 100 meters and the antennas would not be able to go higher than that, so the additional 170 feet would be available for rent. (see attached) Dennis Carpenter - We will be located at the top of the tower. It is actually a C-2, operating at minimum facilities at 25,000 watts equal to a C-3. I used the word C-3 because I'm used to referring to 25,000 watt as C-3. It is a minimum C-2 can operate from 25,000 to 50,000 watts, we are on the lower side therefor we need 500 feet. The FCC may classify it as C-3, but can not drop the antenna height below the 500 feet. FAA has a program that studies all radio frequencies in a geographic area and look at the combined effect of radio frequencies and how they add together to create new frequencies for a spur in the 108 MHz ban (FAA ban). We have to be at 500 feet which limits our transmitter output power. We have ran the study with FAA and know we have to be at the 500 foot level and know it will have to be a requirement. Vern Heidner - What Mr. Carpenter is saying does match the information I have here, but we need documentation from the applicant supporting that. Dennis Carpenter - We can provide the full engineering documentation. Richard Nichols asked Bob what the current zoning is on the other towers. Bob answered A-1, Agriculture. Richard Nichols - We already have three towers in an A-1 area, why change the zoning now? Bob - This is a television or radio broadcasting tower and it is different than a personal wireless service tower. The 1996 Telecommunication Act says we have to accommodate personal wireless services in all zoning districts. The Otsego Antenna Ordinance needs to be amended because television or radio broadcasting is not listed as a permitted or conditional use in an Ag. area whereas personal wireless services are. PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING of December 3, 1997 cont'd Page 4 Richard Nichols questioned the collapsibility of the tower and the potential of it hitting another tower and having a domino effect. Dennis Carpenter - Guy towers are made to collapse down onto themselves. The guy wires are intersecting the tower from three different directions, if a guy wire breaks, the others cause it to rotate in a spiral and it collapses onto itself. Sabotage is a potential hazard or a tornado. The towers are built to accommodate high winds. Federal guidelines are in place for tower design. Chair Swenson went back to the public. David Becker - Do you plan to tear the old tower down and build a new tower? Dennis Carpenter - We plan to put a new tower adjacent to the UPA tower. (side by side) Chair Swenson closed the Hearing. ING ROSKAFT MOTIONED TO APPROVE THE APPLICANTS REQUEST FOR A CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT TO ALLOW A ZONING ORDINANCE AMENDMENT ESTABLISHING COMMERCIAL AND PUBLIC RADIO AND TELEVISION TRANSMITTING AND PUBLIC UTILITY MICROWAVE ANTENNAS AND SUPPORT STRUCTURES AS CONDITIONAL USE IN AN A-1, AGRICULTURAL RURAL SERVICE ZONING DISTRICT, SUBJECT TO 14 CONDITIONS LISTED IN NAC'S REPORT DATED NOVEMBER 19, 1997. BRUCE RASK SECONDED THE MOTION. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. Discussion between he motion and the actual vote. - Richard Nichols - I don't believe this is the right way to handle this. Rezoning it to I-1, as pointed out in NAC's report would allow that area to have other uses. I think if we are going to approve this, we need to establish a new Zoning District restricted from non -cell phone uses, which would serve two purposes, we wouldn't be opening that area to other and we wouldn't be establishing a precedent. The potential problem is the proliferation of antennas. We need to discuss what we want in that area. There will be more requests coming and we need to restrict them. Bob Kirmis - Amending the Zoning Ordinance was the simplest way to allow this type of antenna in the A-1 district. It is compatible with other uses in that district. As far as future requests, with a CUP the city has the potential to turn down a request. There needs to be findings that the use is compatible in an A-1 district. We don't anticipate a great number of requests for television and radio transmitting. Bruce Rask - Agree with Richard. Geographically it is a good spot and by Federal law we can not restrict cell phones. Vern Heidner asked Mr. Carpenter how many applications can be expected. PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING of December 3, 1997 cont'd Page 5 Mr. Carpenter - For radio and television the spectrum is filled. Not just the stations you can hear in the Miinneapolis area. There are rules and restrictions we have to abide by and they are filled to capacity. All our radio and television towers for this area are located in Shoreview and there would be to no competitive advantage to move here. They want to be close to their competitors. I can only speak for television and radio. EUGENE GOENNER MOTIONED TO ALLOW A CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT TO ALLOW THE ERECTION OF A RADIO TRANSMITTING ANTENNA AND SUPPORT STRUCTURE WITH AN A-1, AGRICULTURAL RURAL SERVICE ZONING DISTRICT, AND INCLUDE THE CONDITIONS OF NAC'S REPORT DATED NOVEMBER 19, 1997. ARLEEN NAGEL SECONDED THE MOTION. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. ING ROSKAFT MOTIONED TO ALLOW A PLANNED UNIT DEVELOPMENT, CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT TO ALLOW MORE THAN ONE PRINCIPAL STRUCTURE UPON A SINGLE LOT OF RECORD (IN RECOGNITION OF EXISTING 260 FOOT UPA TRANSMISSION TOWER). AS PER NAC'S REPORT DATED NOVEMBER 19, 1997. ARLEEN NAGEL SECONDED THE MOTION. ALL IN FAVOR. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. This will be on the City Council agenda for December 8, 1997 at 6:30 PM. 4. Review and approval of the Planning Commission By -Laws and Ethics Chair Swenson - The next item on the agenda is to review and approve the Planning Commission By -Laws with the recommended changes. Eugene Goenner - Recommended reversing number 18 and 19. Bruce Rask - Requested omitting before 4:00 p.m.. Consensus was to omit the time. Richard Nichols - Since the By -Laws lists no penalties regarding this, is number 6 needed. Also in number 6, the word should replace must. EUGENE GOENNER MOTIONED TO CHANGE THE PLANNING COMMISSION BY-LAWS UNDER NO.6 CHANGE THE WORD FROM MUST TO SHOULD. DELETE BEFORE 4 PM AND REVERSE NO.'S 18 AND 19. RICHARD NICHOLS SECONDED THE MOTION. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 5. Any other Planning Commission Business: Vern Heidner gave an update on the Sewer and water project. Mayor Fournier thanked the Planning Commission for their hard work and dedication to the community. Mayor Fournier distributed certificates of appreciation. Eugene Goenner - Asked for a timeline for rough draft of the Comprehensive Plan. Bob Kirmis - We project about six months. We will be discussing some engineering business on Thursday with the Engineer. PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING of December 3,1"7cont'd Page 6 Eugene Goenner asked if the moratorium will be extended until the Comprehensive Plan is done. Vern Heidner - The moratorium is until February and at that time we will reconsider it and most likely extend it. 6. Adjourn: ING ROSKAFT MOTIONED TO ADJOURN. BRUCE RASK SECONDED THE MOTION. ALL IN FAVOR. MOTION CARRIED. Jim Kolles, Secretary Recorded by: Carol Olson COW 120397. WPS