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County planning commission approves Olive Hill Road wireless facility

The San Diego County Planning Commission approved a major use permit and administrative permit for a wireless telecommunication facility in the 5400 block of Olive Hill Road.

The planning commission’s 4-0 vote Dec. 15, with David Pallinger and Bryan Woods absent and Doug Barnhart recusing himself because his family trust owns Verizon stock, allows Verizon to construct, operate and maintain a wireless facility which includes 12 panel antennas and one microwave antenna on a 35-foot-tall, false broadleaf tree.

The major use permit also covers accessory equipment, a 15,000-watt emergency backup generator within a concrete masonry unit enclosure at the base of the false tree and trenching for approximately 375 linear feet to install telecommunication cable and power lines. The administrative permit allows the facility to encroach upon an existing steep slope open space easement.

The facility will be on a property totaling 4.5 acres. The land’s rural residential zoning requires a major use permit for a wireless telecommunications facility. A single-family residence along with a barn and a small avocado orchard are along the southern section of the property. An open space easement for sensitive habitat is along the northern perimeter of the parcel, and an open space easement for steep slopes exists along the southern part of the property.

In November 1993, an administrative permit was approved to allow the single-family dwelling unit to encroach upon the steep slope open space easement. The findings for that permit noted that the open space easement boundary lines were drawn “freehand” on the parcel map, and no coordination was made to consider that the land had been developed with orchard roads and building pads for temporary agricultural structures.

During the application for the wireless facility, an analysis was conducted which determined that the land did not meet the definition of a steep slope in the county’s Resource Protection Ordinance as the rise is less than 50 feet in length. The wireless facility is considered a temporary facility, as leases are typically for 30 years, and the footprint will encroach upon less than 1 percent of the steep slope open space easement. Best management practices will be used during construction and maintenance so that the slope will not be damaged by the facility.

The false tree and equipment enclosure will be located near the southeast portion of the parcel. The tree and enclosure will be 53 feet from the nearest property line and more than 225 feet from the nearest residence.

The facility, which will be approximately 400 feet south of Olive Hill Road and 200 feet west of Via Puerta Del Sol, will be visible to motorists traveling along Olive Hill Road although the distance from the road, the road’s change of direction and the vertical elements in the immediate vicinity will minimize visual impacts from the street. The surrounding vertical elements include existing mature trees, orchard trees and single-family homes.

An alternative site analysis determined that an existing T-Mobile false mono-broadleaf tree approximately half a mile to the northeast would need to be increased in height to approximately 50 feet to accommodate the Verizon antennas and that Verizon would have limited space at the Morro Reservoir site more than a mile to the west.

In May 2017, the Bonsall Community Sponsor Group voted 5-1 to recommend denial of the project due to concerns that the false tree would directly impact the closest neighbor’s views. An Oct. 3 meeting of the sponsor group included discussion of the project, but no motion received the required four votes for an official recommendation.

The concrete masonry unit enclosure will be eight feet in height and 116 square feet. It will be painted an earth tone color to match existing structures on the property.

A private driveway which connects to Olive Hill Road will provide access to the wireless facility.

Author Bio

Joe Naiman, Writer

Joe Naiman has been writing for the Village News since 2001

 

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