Laserfiche WebLink
once these sites are on air, if they receive the necessary approvals, they will then be better <br />able to determine other coverage gaps that may exists around the island. He said prior to <br />the site coming up and during the application process, propagation maps for the particular <br />antenna and the area that the particular antenna covers will be presented; and as far as <br />what it would look like if all of those future sites were developed now, he did not have <br />that information available. <br />For Commissioner Galdones€s information, Mr. Young said Exhibit G for Verizon shows <br />an area that has been identified as a key part of the Big Island that they would like to <br />install a new facility and not intended to show what the coverage would be should a site <br />be placed there. <br />Mr. Goya said currently Cingular is attempting to equip all of its existing sites with back- <br />up generators. He said they are hoping to speed through some of the planning issues by <br />co-locatingonexistingsites;howeverinlookingatsomeoftheexistingsitesandthe <br />vegetation that has grown over the past 5 to10 years, it behooves them as representatives <br />of cellular providers to try and ask for increased height. He agreed with Mr. Young that <br />the primary consideration would be to provide necessary communication around the <br />island for existing customers. <br />Kerry Burrell, public health nurse working for Hospice, spoke in support of the <br />application for the safety and health of her clients, noting many times she is out in remote <br />areas and situations come up where she is unable to make any contact with physicians or <br />a pharmacy and end up driving back into Pahoa or into a coverage area to make calls, <br />noting it was a healthy and safety issue for her clients. <br />Dave Smith noted he submitted written testimony into the record. <br />Commissioner Galdones questioned if there were any regulations set up for planning of <br />cell towers so that the Commission can plan towers throughout the island to obtain the <br />best coverage, noting the Commissioners and public would appreciate such a plan. <br />Mr. Yuen said in 2001 the Planning Department, along with various tower providers, did <br />attempt to do an overall master planning to see if there could be some coordination of <br />plans to have certain areas done in advance rather than have individual applications; <br />hoever, it turned out to be a really difficult project, noting even if the Department <br />attempted to do it in-house if money were budgeted it still would be very difficult. Mr. <br />Goya said Cingular would be interested in discussing this matter further but noted it <br />would take a lot more from their end to see if they can get together with the other <br />providers to move some of their short-term planning forward and maybe enhance future <br />planning by maybe providing more cell sites. <br />Commissioner Galdones commended Verizon and Cingular in doing this as a joint <br />venture to provide the best coverage throughout the island and said he would be <br />supporting the application. <br />5 <br /> <br />