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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011-01-06 TCROWN CASTLE WINDWARD PLANNING COMMISSION COUNTY OF HAWAI‘I HEARING TRANSCRIPT JANUARY 6, 2011 CROWN CASTLE GT COMPANY LLC A regularly advertised hearing on the application of (USE 10-023) was called to order at 9:26 a.m. in the County of Hawai‘i, Aupuni Center Conference Room, 101 Pauahi Street, Hilo, Hawai‘i, with Chairman Zendo Kern presiding. COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Zendo Kern, Dean Au, Takashi Domingo, Wallace Ishibashi, Stephen Ono, And Rell Woodward STAFF PRESENT: Julie Mecklenburg (Deputy Corporation Counsel), Daryn Arai (Planning Program Manager), Phyllis Fujimoto (Staff Planner), Maija CottleJeff Darrow (Staff Planner). And 8 people from the public in attendance. APPLICANT: CROWN CASTLE GT COMPANY LLC (USE 10-023) Application for a Use Permit to allow the removal of an existing 111-foot tall telecommunication monopole and the construction of a 104-foot tall steel telecommunication monopole, antennas and related improvements on a600-square foot portion of a larger 2,000+-acre parcel situated in the County’s Agricultural-zoned district. The project site is located approximately 1.5 miles south (makai) of Highway 11 and Na‘alehu Village, Kahilipali Nui, Ka‘u, Hawai‘i, TMK: 9-5-007: Portion of 16. KERN: Next item on the agenda is Castle GT Company LLC (USE 10-023). Jeff will be making the presentation. DARROW: If I could direct your attention to our next application. This is for Crown Castle GT Company LLC. They’re requesting a Use Permit to allow a 104-foot monopole tower. The location of this application is within the Ka‘u district. More specifically we’re looking just south of Na‘alehu which is identified with the different colors, mainly yellow and pink, identifying Urban and Commercial zoning. The property is identified with a black outline. This is an approximate 2,013-acre property. This is a little closer view. The zoning for the property is Agricultural 20 acres; and, again, you can see the different shades of yellow and pink just north of the property identifying the Urban and Commercial zoning for Na‘alehu.Access to the property is from Na‘alehu town. The applicant is requesting a Use Permit to allow the removal of an existing 111-foot tall monopole, which is wood, and replacing it with the construction of a 104-foot tall steel monopole. This includes 16 panel antennas. Twelve will be for Verizon wireless and four panels will be for Sprint. And, lastly, their related improvements include a backup emergency generator and a six-foot high chain link security fence. This is all located on a 600-square foot portion of a 2,013-acre property within the County’s Agricultural 20-acre zoned district. Previously, up to this point this is actually our first application that Ordinance 10-17 is applying to. Previously a telecommunication tower within the State Land Use Agricultural district required a special permit. In 2007 Act 171 was initiated by the Legislature which allowed the communication antennas and towers to be a permitted use within the State LandUse Agricultural 1 EXHIBIT B District. Subsequently the Planning Director initiated procedures to require a Use Permit in the County’s Agricultural zoned district. That includes RA, FA, IA, as well as Agricultural zoned districts. So that, you know, when these towers come in,it still requires a public hearing. So this is our first application in which Ordinance 1017 is applicable to, as well as our next application, so I won’t go into detail about that for our next one. The reasons for the request is that the current existing telecommunication facility requires an upgrade to improve coverage between existing tower sites, and the replacement of a wood pole with the steel pole will provide a stronger more storm-resistant installation. This is a site plan submitted by the applicant. This shows the property. The north is on the top right of the map, and then it shows the area of the tower sites. There’s actually four towers currently located there, three of which have been permitted through special permits. This particular tower, the existing tower, was, had been built prior to 19 -, when it required the special permit through the State Supreme Court. This shows a bird’s-eye view. You can see that there will be 12 panel antennas along the top of the tower. The remaining four for Sprint are located just below that on the tower. The Planning Director is recommending approval of this application. With that, that concludes our presentation. Are there any questions? KERN: Any questions for staff? DARROW: I do have one -. We did receive a letter this morning of support. And that has been, we only have one copy, and that has been passed out to the Commissioners. Thank you. KERN: All right, any questions? ONO: Yes. KERN: Commissioner Ono. ONO: Question on how old, you didn’t finish the year that the wooden pole was constructed. DARROW: Prior to 1999, the Planning Department interpreted State law and, to allow telecommunication towers as a permitted use, as well as within the County Agricultural district. There was an appeal to that decision to the Supreme Court in which the Supreme Court overturned that and stated that this required a special permit for telecommunication towers within the State Land Use Agricultural district. So from 1999 until 2007 any tower that had come in within the State Land Use Agricultural district went through the special permit process. In 2007, the State Legislature enacted 171 which allowed them to be permitted uses within the State Land Use Agricultural District. And, again, because of a controversy that surrounds some of these towers with surrounding properties, the Planning Director initiated procedures to still require a use permit in the County zoning sothat it can still come before Planning Commission and public hearing. ONO: No, I guess I’m alluding to the, whether the wooden pole needed to be replaced then therefore it would be more worthwhile to put up a, the steel pole -. But I was just wondering how old was the wooden pole that it needed to be replaced. DARROW: Well, it was constructed in 1997. ONO: Thank you. 2 EXHIBIT B WOODWARD: Right. That’s in the background here, 1997 by GT Mobile Net. KERN: Any other questions? Seeing none, thank you, Jeff. Can I please have the applicant or their representative come forward. Good morning. I’ll go ahead and swear you in. Could you please raise your right hand. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth today before the Windward Planning Commission? FOX: Yes, I do. KERN: Okay, very good. Before you start with your presentation, please give us your name and address; and you may begin. FOX: My name is Keoni Fox. I’m with Alii Wireless Specialists, 45-955 Kamehameha Highway, Suite 308, Kaneohe. And -. KOLAR: My name is Maria Kolar, also with Alii Wireless Specialists at 45-955 Kamehameha Highway, Suite 308. KERN: Thank you very much. You may begin. FOX: We are representatives for Crown Castle. We’ve reviewed the background report as well as the recommendation, the conditions for approval; and we do not have any concerns. KERN: Anything else? FOX: No. We’re available if you have any questions. Like Mr. Darrow had mentioned, the tower was constructed in 1997. Verizon is currently providing wireless service for the community from this existing site. Because of developments in our technology they would like to switch out the antennas to these panel antennas which will greatly improve the service. That will help to expand coverage by replacing the existing pole with the new steel pole, and it’ll also upgrade the infrastructure. As you know the steel pole, or the wood pole has been there for over ten years now. KERN: Commissioner Woodward. WOODWARD: Yes, sir. I had a question there. This little, the paper that we were given today implies that KAHURadio is going to be using your tower. Wendell? KA‘EHU‘AE‘A: I’ll come up and talk about it. WOODWARD: Okay, all right. Is that the case? They’re going to be using your tower or possibly -? FOX: That was just brought to my attention today, so I’m not exactly sure. I think there was some interest; and perhaps Wendell can expand on that. WOODWARD: Okay. FOX: Crown Castle is not a wireless service provider. They are a communication tower owner and operator. They are in the business of adding antennas and allowing co-location on their towers. So it’s in their best interest. WOODWARD: Okay. Well, I’m sure Wendell can fill us in, cause that’s an important consideration for the community, I know. Thank you. 3 EXHIBIT B KERN: Commissioner Domingo? DOMINGO: So in doing what you do, you folks would purchase asite, and then improve it, and bring it up-to-date with additional carriers coming on? FOX:Correct. Currently Crown Castle has 17 towers on the Big Island. All of them were purchased from other wireless service providers, mainly Verizon and Sprint. So they’re part of larger acquisitions, part of a larger national portfolio. To my knowledge Crown Castle has not developed any new facilities on the Big Island. But some of the towers albeit were old and needed to be upgraded. This is one of them. There’s another project that Crown Castle is also working on upgrading as well. DOMINGO: So when you see these conditions, as you mentioned, that the tower being old and probably needs some improvements, you would come in and offer your service, or purchase the property and then upgrade the old facility? FOX: I believe that’s in the purchase. Crown Castle purchased both the tower asset itself and the underlying lease. Crown doesn’t own the land that the towers are on so they actually have leases that the previous tower owners had, with the underlying landowners; and I believe that Crown was assigned the interest to that lease. DOMINGO: Is yoursa service business? FOX: Oh, our company, Alii Wireless specialists, correct. We are consultants for Crown Castle and other communication tower owners and wireless service providers. DOMINGO: Oh, I see. So -. FOX: So we help with attaining permits and -. DOMINGO: So we’re looking at three entities in this case, common entities -you folks, the wireless provider and the landowners? FOX: Correct. DOMINGO: Yeah, okay. You know, just one question to the administration, and this is one of my concerns. You know, in view of the fact that there has been somewhat much special permits being granted, is there a follow-up by the administration as to see whether the conditions imposed on the providers, to see those conditions are met? Like, for instance,planting trees or landscaping around the areas, and all of that? You folks make periodic inspections to see that those conditions are met and are being done? DARROW: We do. But, I mean, there is room for an improvement; and we’ve been actually currently actively working towards looking at the possibility of assigning staff to be able to specifically work on conditions of permits. That’s -. DOMINGO: I would appreciate that. DARROW: Yeah, that’s an area that we are currently looking at improving. DOMINGO: I’ve noticed a particular application, not regarding cellular towers but so-called uses on agricultural zoned lands, which was granted a special permit,and ever since having been approved I have seen no improvement whatsoever on that particular site. And I’m wondering if 4 EXHIBIT B at any point the Planning Director would give approval, you know, tacit approval on the applicants, to see whether or not they’ve met all conditions. And I think your answer to having someone doing inspections is a good one. Because, you know, it’s not of any worth if we impose conditions of approval and those conditions are not being met. And, you know, it would be a mockery to the whole process of hearings and everything. DARROW: Thank you. DOMINGO: Thank you very much. KERN: Any other questions? Commissioner Ono. ONO:Yes. I’m kind of overwhelmed by this. Eleven years for me as a lay person is a short period of time for constructing this wooden pole thing. And my question really is did we have, was the return paid in full so to speak so the first installment of the wooden pole and the investment of the material and equipment, whatever, paid up so that when you do this improvement there would be no increase in cost to the consumers? FOX: That’s a good question. And, unfortunately, I don’t think I can answer that. But if I understand correctly, you’re asking if the original developer of the tower received a return of their investment over that 13-year period. I’m not sure. There are changes in our technology every day. I can’t say that the antennas that are up there are very outdated. Most of the existing Verizon sites have had those antennas switched out. It has taken a while for us to get this application in. But I know that they’re looking to upgrade that site, specifically. ONO: So then I’m sure you won’t be able to answer. There may be a carry-over in terms of the original expense to the cost of constructing this new one. FOX: Possibly. I don’t know what it cost originally to build that tower, but it has been about 13 years now. So I would way that they did, you know, that they did get a return on their investment construction wise. But, you know, they do have operating cost as well. They do pay a monthly rent to the landowners, and I’m not sure what those figures would be. ONO:Thank you. KERN: Any other questions? I have a quick question. Changing over the antennas, how much does that improve the coverage from the existing antennas? FOX: Actually there was an exhibit in the application. That would probably show it better than what I can explain. There were propagation maps that were provided by Verizon, Exhibit J, and I’m working off a black and white; and I see you are too, unfortunately. KERN: Yeah, that’s why. FOX: Do you have the colored -? KOLAR: I have the colored here, if somebody else wants to look at it. FOX: Maria brought some colored maps; and maybe she can actually pass that around. KOLAR: Okay. 5 EXHIBIT B FOX: The red-orange colors, those show the best coverage that you would get from the site. The first page shows the coverage with the existing antennas, which we call whip antennas; and the second page shows what the coverage would be with the newer antennas. KERN: So with your experience of reading these maps what percentage -? FOX: I think that there is going to be a significant improvement in coverage, mainly because the antennas that are up there now are, we call them omni or whip style antennas, they radiate at a 360-degree radius. And the new antennas are called panel antennas. Those can provide specific improvements in coverage to specific areas; so therefore the signal is not so wasted. You know, to be honest with you, there’s no homes at all makai of the facility. Everybody basically lives in Na‘alehu. I know there are some hikers that go down there and people that work for the ranch, and fishermen, but it’s almost wasted signal. KERN: So does that give you the ability to kind of face the antennas to the areas that you want them to be versus what we have now, kind of does this and everywhere is getting the equal amount? FOX: Exactly, yes. KERN: Got it. Great. Okay, Commissioner Domingo. DOMINGO: But that would, facing the antennas down towards the ocean and around the coast is important because, you know, people go fishing, hunting or go out to sea; and I think there have been several occasions where cell phones have become very important in the rescue. So I just want to put that out. FOX: You’re right, right. And not to be, you know, mistaken, they’re not looking to eliminate the coverage that is currently on the coastline, but they can better, better use this wireless signal with the new antennas. They can direct it towards certain areas. KERN: Very good. Thank you very much. You can have a seat. FOX: Thank you. KERN: Now for public testimony, I’ll call up went Wendell Ka‘ehu‘ae‘a. I’ll swear you in before you begin. Will you raise your right hand. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth today before the Windward Planning Commission? KA‘EHU‘AE‘A: Yes, I do. KERN: Okay. And before you begin with your testimony, please give us your name and address; and you may begin. KA‘EHU‘AE‘A: Yeah, my name is Wendell Ka‘ehu‘ae‘a. I’m more known for working with community television, you know; and my presentation today is going to be representing KAHU Radio station. And I’m the founder and the person that built the station. And let me give you a little background on that. I can see Wally here and a lot of you Commissioners were filmed -. I’ve filmed a lot of these guys over here, so it’s really different to be in front of -. Usually I’m back here with a camera with my media guys, back there. You know, so it’s really different for me. 6 EXHIBIT B KAHU radio Station,like Yamada Construction, the time, we started putting this thing together in 2004. And just about 2 ½ years ago we finally got approval from the Federal. The Federal is not into community radio station. They’re more into supporting commercial radio stations. But 2 ½ years ago the Federal said they’ll open up the window nationwide; and they were giving everybody only 30 days. You can’t put an application together in 30 days. But we had our application together two years previous to this window opening. , So I put in the application, and used one of the nation’s top engineersDon Mussell. So we put it together. When the opportunity came, we applied for it. And then there were 5,000 of us nationwide that applied for it, 69 of us in the State of Hawai‘i. Till today, 2 1/2 years later, KAHU is the only one that we got approved by the Federal. The reason why -they have a community radio station on Ka‘uai, one on Ka‘uai, MPR on Oahu, and one on Maui - there’s no community radio station on the Big Island, so the Federal gave it to us. So in the last seven months we’ve been on the air. Everybody on the community radio station is avolunteer. Nobody gets paid. And all our source of income is by grants, donation, and what you call underwriting. It’s similar to advertising. So what I did, we got the radio station up there in Pahala. And we cover from the 32-mile marker, once you pass the, within the National Park, Pahala, and three subdivisions in Na‘alehu, along with Na‘alehu, up to . But we need to extend our services to Ocean View and Miloli‘i, and up to Kainaliu. But the only way we can do it -. We checkedwith the owner of the tower site that Crown Castle is on, Chris Manfredi. He said he can’t do much but he can recommend us to be on this tower with Crown Castle. And my engineer contacted Crown Castle; and we also have a support from another gentleman, Edmund Olson. He’s pretty big in Ka‘u. So he got about four sites in Oahu that he leases out to Crown Castle. Crown Castle is in the business of making money, you know, cause they rent out to Verizon and Hawaiian Tel. You know, community radio station is not in the business of making money. We’re just community service; and we’ve been doing a terrific job for the last seven months. And the Civil Defense, both here on the Big Island, is really helpful and they’re really amazed that we’ve got signal into the Ka‘u area; and they’re working with us. Along with Texeira of State Civil Defense, he’ll love us on the South Point area. But we need to get on that tower. So what we’re trying to do is, I’m not putting pressure on Crown Castle but we have to do something, cause we wrote letters and talked story with Eric back there, my engineer. So, you know, we really can’t afford to pay what Verizon and these other guys are paying. So we’re asking Crown Castle, and we’re asking you folks to consider of us once they put the new tower up, if we can get on that tower. What it is, right now our transmitter and our antennae is on a pole in Pahala. So the antenna and the transmitter is going to be moved up there once we get the approval with Crown Castle. Then we’ll have a microwave shooting up to that site. That site is going to be terrific. From that site, right now we’re in the National Park, or just outside the National park. That site is going to take us all the way to Mt. View School. That’s the Hilo side. And that site is also going to give us Ocean View,Miloli‘i, and Kainaliu. So we’re going to have the whole basin for Civil Defense communications and everything. But we support this development for Crown Castle and we wish them well. But we also want to be attached to that tower for a minimum fee or no fee at all. So we support what they’re doing. Thank you. KERN: Okay, any questions? WOODWARD: Thank you. KERN: Commissioner Woodward. 7 EXHIBIT B WOODWARD: I have a question that probably is a point of information. Wendell, you have done an amazing job. And I have been familiar with the radio station, so I’ll begin this with a little bit of information you didn’t convey. One is that there is no radio station currently that reaches all of Ka‘u, none of them on this island. And if for nothing else, just from the standpoint of Civil Defense, that’s a problem because there are blackout areas for all the stations in different places in Ka‘u. Wendell’s station is the only one that once it gets up and running and gets all of its antennas in place will cover all of Ka‘u. So apart from all the other good things they do for the community, and they do a lot of very good things, from purely the standpoint of Civil Defense,they will be the Civil Defense ratio station for Ka‘u because it is the only one that will have coverage. And they’re workingwith Civil Defense. That’s a done deal once they get, you know, once they get up and running and get full coverage. Now to your point, you know, I think it’s beyond our power at this point to make a business decision for Castle and, or -. What is it -? FOX: Crown Castle. WOODWARD: Crown Castle, yeah, Crown Castle. It’s really up to them. But if they want goodwill --and people do remember, and I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt for them to, and it would surelyhelp the community -- for them to give you a break on a location. KA‘EHU‘AE‘A: Yeah, I talked with Eric back there so, you know, he has been talking with our engineer. So, you know, something can develop. So if everything goes and they get their antennas up, we’d sure like to attach to their antenna up there. It won’t take much for us to attach our stuff up there. WOODWARD: Yeah, okay. All right, thank you KA‘EHU‘AE‘A: One last thing I want to add, I got 14 volunteers up there, two managers and the rest announcers, all 14 are from Ka‘u. So we’re making sure that Ka‘u represents Ka‘u on a community radio station. I’m the only immigrant, from Hilo, up there. KERN: Commissioner Ono. ONO:Yes. Out of curiosity, when you say you want to attach your transmitter -. KA‘EHU‘AE‘A: Yeah, no, the antenna. ONO: Antenna. KA‘EHU‘AE‘A: We’d like to have a little storage shed so we can put our transmitter in there. ONO: Okay, I’m not good at these. So would you be attaching another panel up to the pole or are you just attaching a wire touse one of those panels. KA‘EHU‘AE‘A: It’s going up on a pole; and we’re going to be below Verizon and the rest of them. We’re going to be the lowest on the pole. And it’s a new kind of antenna. It’s not that big, you know, like the television disk or something like that. It’s a small, small as that panel of Walter’s computer. ONO:Excuse me, Mr. Chair. I’m just curious. Does this not change the application when you’re asking for an attachment to the panel, not the panel, to the pole? KERN: It may and that’d be more of a question for staff. 8 EXHIBIT B DARROW: If I could refer you to Condition No. 3, it specifically refers to co-location. The Planning Department encourages that so that we don’t create new towers all over the island; instead we try to attach antennas to existing towers, which is considered co-location. And so we allow that, as far as, as long as they’re within the approved parameters of the permit, which means they don’t go higher than the existing height of the tower. So this is something we encourage. KA‘EHU‘AE‘A: You know, I don’t want to request to hold this up. But I want to see it go through, then we can talk story after. KERN: Any other questions? ISHIBASHI: Just a comment. KERN: Yes, Commissioner Ishibashi. ISHIBASHI: I just wanted to thank Wendell for a bang-up job. KA‘EHU‘AE‘A:Thank you. ISHIBASHI: I think this is very necessary. And I think Crown Castle is going to help us out, cause Ka‘u is needing this facility. So I think we’ll work together, get this thing passed, cause you provide a beneficial service to the community. KA‘EHU‘AE‘A:Thank you. ISHIBASHI: I just wanted to thank you for that. KA‘EHU‘AE‘A: I think we’ve got to thank all those people in Ka‘u, cause putting the station together was about hundred something people volunteering, manpower, construction company, and all that. So it was really good. KERN:Very good. DARROW: Mr. Chairman? KERN: Yes. DARROW: I’ve been requested by a representative from Crown Castle if he could appear and answer, maybe provide clarification. KERN: Very good. Yeah, thank you. Have a seat. DARROW: His name is Erick Schatz. KERN: All right, Mr. Schatz. If I can get you to raise your right hand and I’ll swear you in. Do you affirm to tell the truth today before the Windward Planning Commission? SCHATZ: I do. KERN: All right. Name and address, and you may begin. 9 EXHIBIT B SCHATZ: I’m Eric Schatz, project manager for Crown Castle in Hawai‘i. Address is 150 Hamakua, No.703, Kailua, 96734. I wanted to offer a couple of clarification to Wendell’s testimony. He has got it right, we have been in communication with the engineer for the radio station, being Mr. Don Mussell. I spoke with him for the first time about five or six weeks ago. And at the time I was under the impression that the community radio station was interested in attaching to the subject of this application, the tower in Na‘alehu. Upon my conversation with Mr. Mussell, he clarified and said that what he really wanted to attach to was another tower that Crown Castle owns above Na‘alehu. That site is what we refer to as our Ka‘u site. It’s an existing 100-foot steel monopole as well. That pole has gone through the special permit process, has plan approvals; and so that attachment fromthe zoning perspective would be a pretty straight-forward process. Mr. Mussell is providing his requirements in terms of his specifications for the antenna, the size of the ground footprint that he would need for his radio equipment; and that will be going through the Crown Castle application process. We have worked with Hawai‘i Public Radio for the Crown facility in Hana. So they are actually operating from that site today. So we have, I think, demonstrated that we’re able to work with community-based radio stations at a less than commercial rate. And I suspect that that would be the case here was well. KERN: And so the tower that already has approval is the one you’re working on that with, and that would actually come to fruition faster, sooner than this application, do you believe, out of curiosity, since it already has approval? SCHATZ: Given that it’s an existing steel monopole rather than a wooden monopole that needs to be replaced, I think that would come faster, yes. KERN: Any questions? No? Seeing none, thank you. SCHATZ: Thank you. KERN: Anyone willing to entertain a motion? Commissioner Woodward. WOODWARD: Mr. Chairman, in the matter of Crown Castle GT Company Limited, Use Permit application 10-000023, I move that we approve the Use Permit with the conditions as outlined by the Planning Director. DOMINGO: Second. KERN: All right. We have a motion and second. Discussion. Anybody would like to have any discussion? I’ll just put my two cents in. I hope it works out for you guys; and I hope the radio station is up and running and it works for both parties. Thank you. With that we’ll take the vote. DARROW: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The motion before us is to approve the request for a Use Permit for this 104-foot monopole. With that I’ll take the roll. Commissioner Woodward? WOODWARD: Aye. DARROW: Commissioner Domingo? DOMINGO: Aye. DARROW: Commissioner Au? AU: Aye. 10 EXHIBIT B DARROW: Commissioner Ishibashi? ISHIBASHI: Aye. DARROW: Commissioner Ono? ONO:Aye. DARROW: And Mr. Chairman? KERN: Aye. DARROW: The motion passes six to zero. KERN: You’ll be notified in writing. Thank you very much. The discussion ended at 10:00 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Sharon M. Nomura, Secretary Windward Planning Commission 11 EXHIBIT B