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Planning Commission approves Rainbow Heights Road wireless facility

The county’s Planning Commission approved a major use permit for a wireless telecommunications facility in Rainbow.

The planning commission voted 4-0, Feb. 28, to grant AT&T the permit to construct and operate a wireless facility. Michael Beck and Michael Edwards were not at the meeting while Doug Barnhart, whose family trust owns telecommunications industry stock, abstained.

The permit allows a 35-foot-tall, false broadleaf tree with 12 panel antennas, two Global Positioning System antennas, 24 remote radio units, three surge suppressors and two radio frequency filters to be installed on the property in the 6000 block of Rainbow Heights Road. The permit also allows for two equipment enclosures; one of those will house a 30 kilowatt stand-by generator and the other will be used for the other equipment.

The property owned by Richard and Gayle Marrocco consists of six parcels totaling 110.5 acres. The land has limited agriculture zoning and a semi-rural land use designation. A major use permit is required to place a wireless communications facility on land with agricultural zoning, and while that is a non-preferred zone, the parcels with C36 general commercial zoning which would be the nearest preferred zone are 2 miles west of the site and would not provide the desired coverage, and since those areas are approximately 200 feet lower in elevation than the Rainbow Heights Road site, a Fifth Street or Old Highway 395 location would require a significantly taller tower. The alternative site analysis also evaluated co-location on existing wireless facilities, but those were also too far away to meet the coverage objective. Factors including low elevation and the lack of property owner interest eliminated other properties within the coverage area.

The facility will be built to accommodate co-location for another carrier. Such co-location would require a modification to the major use permit, and that process would also require public review and planning commission approval.

The Marrocco property includes a single-family residence, an avocado orchard, a small lake and several agricultural buildings. The wireless facility will be approximately 1,300 feet southwest of the house. The property is surrounded by hilly terrain with shrubs, trees and agricultural operations. The wireless facility will be 51 feet from the closest property line and approximately 400 feet southeast of the nearest neighboring residence, so the nearby residences will have very limited views of the facility due to the vegetation and topography in between. The equipment enclosures will have an earth tone color which will match the surrounding environment and existing structures on the property.

The equipment enclosure which will house the stand-by generator will be a concrete masonry unit structure 8 feet in height. A fully enclosed, prefabricated enclosure that is 9 feet, 4 inches in height will house the rest of the equipment.

The false tree is approximately 2.1 miles east of the Interstate 15 scenic corridor area and will not be visible to motorists traveling along the scenic corridor. The nearest public road is Rice Canyon Road, which is 615 feet south of the wireless communications site, and motorists on Rice Canyon Road will have very limited views of the false tree.

No concerns were raised when the Rainbow Community Planning Group heard the proposal June 20, 2018, and the planning group voted 8-0 to recommend approval of the permit.

An existing private driveway connecting to Rainbow Crest Road, which is a public road, will provide access to the site. The construction portion of the facility will include a 3 foot wide trench approximately 50 feet in length which will allow for electrical and telecommunications lines.

Author Bio

Joe Naiman, Writer

Joe Naiman has been writing for the Village News since 2001

 

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