Subject: [NEXTEL-1] RBVFC, Sprint Spectrum lost bid for variance request

From: Marcelrf <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 04 Mar 2004 03:36:42 -0500

RBVFC, Sprint Spectrum lost bid for variance request
By Amy Reardon

After months of waiting for a decision, Sprint Spectrum LP and Rehoboth
Beach Volunteer Fire Company (RBVFC) lost their bid for a variance
request Feb. 23.  The pair requested a variance to tear down RBVFC’s
150-foot lattice tower and replace it with a 150-foot telecommunications
monopole.

If the variance had passed, Sprint would have built the tower and paid
rent to the fire company .
The Rehoboth Beach Board of Adjustment unanimously voted down the
application because RBVFC did not show unnecessary hardship.

“The fire company owns the land, the variance request must go with the
owner, so it’s their burden to show unnecessary hardship,” argued City
Solicitor Walt Speakman. “If the building inspector believed the tower
could not hold the current antennas, he would ask the fire company to
remove the six not in use. Even if you believe the tower has to come
down, it’s not an imminent threat. Mayor Sam Cooper wrote a letter
saying the city is willing to work with the fire company to determine
their needs. The fire company speculates the 800 megahertz system won’t
meet their needs, and no study shows the tower will fail with three
antennas on it. They have not shown unnecessary hardship. The city has
allotted $9,000 in its draft budget to study the fire company’s needs.”

Representatives from RBVFC met with Cooper, Commissioner Richard Sargent
and Speakman, Feb. 4, to discuss alternative locations for the fire
company’s communications systems and did not reach a solution.
“It’s my feeling that the city has no intention of looking at it from
our vantage point,” said Fire Chief Jeff Blizzard. “They’d like to put
it on the existing water tower or city property or split up the two
systems. But the more systems you have in line to tie in to each other,
you can have a real nightmare.”

Sprint’s engineering firm submitted a report at the Dec. 19 hearing
which showed many of the tower’s components failing or being
over-stressed when covered in a half inch of ice and sustaining
77.9-mile-per-hour-winds. Structural Engineer Roger Johnson ran tests
for 90-mile-per-hour winds without ice and brought back a three-page
list of components which failed or were over-stressed.

“My analysis shows the tower does not meet current code,” said Johnson.
When Speakman asked if removing several of the unused antennas would
affect the results, Johnson said removing four or five would not make
the tower pass.

The tower holds nine antennas, but the fire company only uses three for
its UHF and low band radio systems. The systems back up the 800
megahertz system and operate knox boxes. Knox boxes, which are located
on commercial buildings, hold keys and will only open with the master
key and a radio signal for the auxiliary system.

“There’s some concern about us partnering up with Sprint,” said
Blizzard, who argued the fire company has been concerned about the
safety of the tower since a report from the state during the up-date of
the 800 megahertz system. “We feel this is a win-win situation.”

Blizzard also said the fire company may expand its communication systems
by placing computers in vehicles, which could require more antennas on
the tower.

“So the tower serves your purpose now?” asked board member Cliff
Hilderly. “But sometime in the future for what you anticipate needing,
you’e asking for a variance request now.”

Chairman Tom Evans said he was not convinced by RBVFC’s arguments and
would like to see the engineering reports put together a little
differently.

“Hardship has not been shown at this time,” said Evans. “It’s up to the
applicant to convince me.”

http://www.capegazette.com/storiescurrent/02-04/rehovariancenixed022704.html

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