AGENDA REPORT
REQUEST FOR CITY COUNCIL ACTION
DATE: 10/16/2019
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
FROM: Community Development Department
SUBJECT:
Title
City Council consideration of CUP2018-0001, a Conditional Use Permit application to establish a 60-foot high wireless telecommunications facility designed as a eucalyptus tree (located at 1380 W. Sixth Street) in the C-3 (General Community Commercial) Zone. (Applicant: Alexander Lew with Core Development Services for Verizon Wireless)
End
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Recommended action
That the City Council:
1. Take no action, thereby affirming the Planning and Housing Commission’s action granting CUP2018-0001, based on the findings contained in the staff report and conditions of approval.
OR
2. Set the item for review at a subsequent meeting.
Body
ANALYSIS:
CUP2018-0001 is an application to establish a 60-foot high wireless telecommunications facility for Verizon Wireless on a 3.47-acre commercial property located at 1380 W. Sixth Street. The subject property has a zoning of C-3 (General Community Commercial) which allows new wireless telecommunications facilities that exceed the height of the zone by a conditional use permit. The telecommunications facility is designed to resemble a eucalyptus tree, also known as a mono-eucalyptus.
The project site is an existing commercial center that contains existing commercial buildings, parking lot, and landscaping. The majority of the site’s landscaping is located along the northerly, southerly and westerly perimeters. The mono-eucalyptus is proposed in a landscape planter located on the westerly perimeter of the site and the equipment enclosure will be located next to an existing trash enclosure that is used by the drive-through restaurant (Rally’s Burger). The panel antennas on the mono-eucalyptus will be mounted on a three-sector array with four antennas per sector, for a total of twelve panel antennas. The antennas will be mounted onto the mono-eucalyptus at a height of 52 feet measured to the center of the antennas. Six RRUs (Radio Remote Units) will be mounted behind the antenna per sector for a total of 18 RRUs.
Verizon’s lease area is 192 square feet and will contain two equipment cabinets, a generator, three raycaps and a GPS antenna. The equipment will not be visible from the street as it will be screened by a six-foot high block wall with live vine planting to match the existing trash enclosure.
Access to the site is from a driveway located at the northerly property line from West Sixth Street and a driveway located at the southerly property line from Smith Avenue. The proposed wireless telecommunications facility will be placed within a landscape finger on the westerly portion of the parcel. Therefore, parking will not be affected by the proposed facility. Additionally, the proposed telecommunications facility is not anticipated to impact the surrounding roadways in terms of traffic because a service technician for Verizon Wireless is anticipated to visit the site periodically throughout the year for routine maintenance and will utilize a parking space with the center’s parking lot.
Propagation maps were submitted to staff showing the coverage in the area with and without the proposed mono-eucalyptus. Currently, without the mono-eucalyptus, the project area has mostly bad to fair coverage. With the mono-eucalyptus, the coverage in the area would improve to good and minimize dropped calls in the area. Verizon’s Radio Frequency Engineers also use specific criteria in selecting sites for wireless facilities, which include leasing interest, zoning, construction costs, and topography. The project site was selected because it met the criteria necessary for providing service coverage in the area. The applicant, however, did analyze several alternate sites prior to selecting the subject site. None of the alternative sites were feasible due to various reasons including buildings with insufficient height to accommodate the proposed facility, properties with insufficient space, site design issues, no interest from property owner, no existing wireless facilities to accommodate a co-location, and properties located outside of the Verizon Wireless search ring. The applicant also analyzed the possibility of co-locating onto existing telecommunication facilities and structures or buildings; however, there are no telecommunication facilities in the search area and there are no structures or buildings with sufficient height for the proposed facility.
CUP2018-0001 will implement General Plan Policy 7.13.2, which provides for the continued development and expansion of telecommunications systems for access data, information, and communication purposes.
COMMITTEE ACTION:
Not applicable.
STRATEGIC PLAN:
Not applicable.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The applicant paid $12,976.75 in application processing fees for the conditional use permit.
ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS:
Per Section 15070 of the State Guidelines for Implementing the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and Section 6.01 of the City’s Local Guidelines, a negative declaration was prepared for the project because the initial study showed that there is no substantial evidence in light of the whole record before the City that the project may have a significant or potentially significant adverse effect on the environment.
PLANNING AND HOUSING COMMISSION ACTION:
At its meeting of September 23, 2019 the Planning and Housing Commission considered the subject matter and took the following action:
Motion was made, seconded (Siqueland/Shah) and carried unanimously with Chair Alexander absent that the Planning and Housing Commission adopt the Negative Declaration Resolution No. 2541 granting CUP2018-0001 based on the findings contained in the staff report and conditions of approval. The minutes of the Planning and Housing Commission meeting are included as Exhibit 4.
PREPARED BY: JOANNE COLETTA, COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR
REVIEWED BY: KERRY D. EDEN, ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER/ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES DIRECTOR
REVIEWED BY: MICHELE NISSEN, ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER
SUBMITTED BY: MITCHELL LANSDELL, INTERM CITY MANAGER
Attachments:
1. Exhibit 1 - Locational and Zoning Map.
2. Exhibit 2 - Site Plan for CUP2018-0001.
3. Exhibit 3 - Planning and Housing Commission Staff Report.
4. Exhibit 4 - Draft Minutes of the Planning and Housing Commission meeting of September 23, 2019.
APPLICANT INFORMATION
Alexander Lew with Core Development Services for Verizon Wireless, 210 W. Birch Street, Suite 201, Brea, CA 92821