2024-10-28 Aaron and Tamara Wade Testimony

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PL -USE -2024-000028 Written Testimony Aloha Windward Planning Commission, We are very concerned that the massive scope of the proposed cell tower at TMK 3-1-2-007-034 represents far too large of a negative impact on the surrounding "Natural Beauty Area" and adjacent Keauohona Forest Reserve. Cat PLANNING DEPT OCT 28 2024 Pm3:5Q REC') HAND DELIVERED The proposed scope is also disproportionate to the need for additional coverage. With coverage from AT&T towers at locations with colocation opportunities, there is already excellent cell service in all of the applicant's target areas. The permit application asks the applicant to show evidence of diligent effort to colocate their antennas. They only said there are no options available. They only provide Verizon's coverage maps as evidence of need. This doesn't appear to rise to the standard of diligence and specific documentation requested. If the only standard for approval is that an applicant has to show a single carrier's lack of coverage, then doesn't that open the door to unchecked tower proliferation? It's important that the Windward Planning Commission is fully aware of the extraordinary resource that would be severely damaged by this project, as proposed. The picture below, taken frorn a 16 foot ladder facing due west, shows the impact this tower would have on a landscape that is pristine all the way to the coast. The power lines evident near the tower base show how low the general tree canopy is. This enormous tower, as proposed, would be an extreme and disproportionate blight that would ruin every future sunset (and sunrise for those on the other side). There must be a better solution. Below, the applicant's photo -simulation for an alternate location closer to the highway shows the scale of this tower and represents how it would look from the new location next to the adjacent subdivision, also represented in the next photo.