10-08-1990 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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ORONO REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING HELD OCTOBER 8, 1990 ZONING FILE #1588 - US WEST NEW VECTOR GROUP CONTINUED • concrete evidence, it could be denied without having a moratorium. In Orono Code, churches and day care centers are not commercial and approved in residential zones on a conditional use permit. They have no where near the impact that a tower of this nature would have. Nettles favored a conceptual denial. The "piggybacking" of conditional use permits is a concern. He stated that although the application cannot be denied because of aesthetic reasons, US West seems to be going in the wrong direction. People are out in Orono because they want as much pristine living as possible. They have paid a lot of money for the lots and this may adversely affect the value because people don't want to see the tower. Under the Code, there are ways to deny the application which is how this should be approached. A point of interest noted was that US West says Orono cannot turn them down because of aestheic reasons and yet that is the reason Woodhill and Wayzata Country Clubs have been eliminated. Nettles agrees with Mr. Gopinath that other alternatives could be found and encourages US West to pursue those. Because there is an existing tower in Wayzata, the service is available and therefore doesn't mean the City is denying an integral public utility service. He asked US West what they are currently doing to service this area. • Dave Hellerman replied that there is some signal. They have to build the capacity of the system. As there are more and more users, the quality deteriorates without adding additional facilities. • Nettles asked about using the water tower in Wayzata which already has a competing tower and if it is technically impossible. Hellerman stated that it is technically impossible. Peterson asked if this system is to serve Wayzata. Mr. Hellerman responded by saying that what is being proposed is part of a larger system. There are 37 cells functional within the Minneapolis area in 6 years of growth. In another 2 years of growth there will be approximately 50 cells. These need to be located to take advantage of frequency reuse. As cell sites get closer together, they will try to lower the antennas. They are trying to do what the community wants as well as service the present market of tens of thousands of phone users. The people who use the phones do not necessarily live or work in this area but travel throughout the area. It is not an issue of competiton or cost, but of the many people currently using both systems who rely of the best possible service and quality. 26