Planning Commission continues Gird Road wireless approval hearing

The application by Sprint Nextel for a Major Use Permit to have a wireless telecommunications facility at the Fallbrook Golf Club was continued for 90 days by the county’s Planning Commission.

The proposal for the 45 foot high false broadleaf tree on the golf course’s parking lot was scheduled for a May 16 Planning Commission hearing, but the Fallbrook Community Planning Group requested input into the proposal and Sprint Nextel was willing to work with the planning group on a mutually acceptable facility.

The planning group had unanimously recommended denial of the project in January 2006, although no representative from either Sprint Nextel or the Fallbrook Golf Club was present at that meeting.

The false tree would have 15 panel antennas, and the facility would also include an equipment shelter measuring 11 1/2 feet by 20 feet and 10 feet high.

The lease area itself would encompass 32 feet by 32 feet, and a nine-foot sound attenuation barrier would extend along the entirety of the lease area’s northern boundary to mitigate the noise from two heating, ventilating, and air conditioning units on the north side of the equipment shelter.

The lease area would be surrounded by a tongue and groove wooden fence ten feet high, and the fence would be landscaped with ivy vines.

The lease area would be located 100 feet north of the clubhouse and 81 feet from the nearest property line, specifically the eastern boundary of Gird Road.

The parcel which includes the parking lot and the proposed facility is separate from the parcel which includes the golf course itself. The parking lot parcel has A70 agricultural zoning and a Public/Semi-Public (22) land use designation.

Although commercial and industrial zones are preferred over residential and agricultural zones for telecommunications facilities, no other preferred zones will allow Sprint Nextel to meet its coverage objective.