Planning Commission approves enhancements for Fallbrook Sports Park

The county’s Planning Commission approved a Major Use Permit modification for a replacement light tower and a wireless communications facility at the Fallbrook Sports Park.

The 6-0 vote January 26, with Planning Commissioner Bryan Woods absent, authorizes two structures and an antenna configuration for a T-Mobile wireless telecommunications facility. An existing 70 foot high light tower will be replaced with a 75 foot high light tower, and twelve antennas will be erected. An equipment shelter will also be built at the sports park which will serve both T-Mobile and the sports park.

The Fallbrook Sports Park is outside the “preferred zone” locations, but there are no commercially-zoned or industrially-zoned locations which could serve the same coverage area and any nearby agriculturally-zoned site would require construction of a new free-standing structure to obtain the proper height for the antennas. The higher terrain of the sports park will also allow T-Mobile to provide coverage in all directions and provide cell phone access from Downtown Fallbrook, the airpark, surrounding residential areas, and activity fields at the sports park.

The 12 antennas will consist of three arrays of four antennas each. The lights on the new tower, which will be located between the softball and soccer fields, will be mounted at 70 feet to match the other light towers on the field, and the antennas will be mounted above the lights.

The equipment shelter, which will also be built between the baseball and soccer fields, will be used both for electronic equipment which will support the wireless facility and for sports equipment which will be used at the sports park. The block equipment shelter will be 44 feet 8 inches wide, 8 feet 8 inches deep, and 11 feet 6 inches high.

The construction will also require the extension of power lines. No additional grading will be required, and normal maintenance activities are expected to take place approximately once per month during normal working hours.

The nearest residence is 275 feet east of the antenna location, and the nearest property line is 219 feet to the east. A noise impact analysis determined that noise from the exterior equipment would not exceed noise level limits at the nearest property line, and County Airports has determined that the light tower’s height and location would not create an aviation hazard. Photo simulations indicate that the new tower and equipment shelter would blend into the existing sports fields.

The Planning Commission has the authority to approve a Major Use Permit without Board of Supervisors ratification, although a Major Use Permit decision can be appealed to the supervisors in the event of opposition. No opposition to the new facilities is known, and in March 2004 the Fallbrook Community Planning Group voted 13-0 to recommend approval.