TOWN OF BEDFORD April 26, 2017 ZONING BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT MINUTES

Transcription

1 TOWN OF BEDFORD April 26, 2017 ZONING BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT MINUTES A regular meeting of the Bedford Zoning Board of Adjustment was held on Wednesday, April 26, 2017 at 7:00pm in the Bedford Meeting Room, 10 Meetinghouse Road, Bedford, NH. Present were: John Morin (Chairman), Catherine Rombeau (Town Council), Sharon Stirling, Chris Swiniarski, Len Green (Alternate), and Karin Elmer (Planner I) Chairman Morin called the meeting to order at 7:00pm and introduced members of the Board. Alternates Bill Jean, Gigi Georges, Kevin Duhaime, and Town Council Alternate Dave Gilbert were absent. Mr. Green was appointed a voting member. Chairman Morin reviewed the rules of procedure and swore in members of the public. Applications: Mr. Swiniarski recused himself from Applications 1 and Eversource Energy (Owner) - Requests a special exception from Article VI, Section B (5) in order to construct a new 125 foot ground mount telecommunications facility at 12 Bellemore Drive, Lot , Zoned SI. (Continued from April 18, 2017) 2. Eversource Energy (Owner) Requests a variance from Article VI, Section G(2) & (3) for single entity occupation of the proposed ground mount tower where colocation is required at 12 Bellemore Drive, Lot , Zoned SI. (Continued from April 18, 2017) Nick Golon, T. F. Moran, and Alan Topliff, Eversource Energy, were present to address the applications for a special exception and variance for Eversource Energy. An aerial photo was posted showing the proposed location for the ground-mount telecommunications tower. Mr. Golon stated Mr. Topliff will have the opportunity to fill in some of the nuts and bolts with regard to how this telecommunications tower may be different from other telecommunications towers you may have seen and just fill in some of the facts that we may need with regard to the case. I will speak to the posted aerial photo and then give Mr. Topliff the floor and he is going to talk about why we are proposing this. Mr. Golon stated the proposed site is located at the end of the cul-de-sac of Bellemore Drive; the Dolphin Spa is immediately to our west, with Bowman Brook running north to

2 Zoning Board of Adjustment Minutes April 26, south along the eastern side. One thing this does not depict is we did have a recent site plan approval for an expansion of their laydown facilities. There is an emergency marshalling area that is presently being constructed that is located in the area indicated, and they also have a new 5-bay carport that has been installed and is now operational, which very much plays into part of our discussion this evening, why that carport was built and why we are looking to build this telecommunications tower. The parcel itself of 12 Bellemore Drive is approximately 15 acres, and Mr. Topliff will give us a little bit of why Eversource needs to move forward with this infrastructure improvement project. Mr. Topliff stated the company has for a number of years been working to improve our service to customers, our ability to respond to storm situations and restore power to our customers, and at the same time trying to do that in a cost-effective manner. Some of that effort has resulted in a closure of some of what we call our Area Work Centers (AWC), Bedford being one of them. A number of them in the past have been closed and consolidated into some of the larger and newer facilities. In this case the company made a decision to close the Milford Area Work Center in downtown Milford last year. The decision was made to bring all the staff and that equipment and to Bedford, which is what resulted in the carport that Mr. Golon just described, so we have room to park the trucks and take care of the staff and also the equipment and spares. The primary thing that we rely upon to communicate with out crews during a storm situation is our mobile radio system. We don t rely on cell phones for that simply because we don t think they are that reliable in a storm situation because they do fail. The southwestern part of the state that previously had been covered by the Milford AWC is served by a repeater on Pack Monadnock Mountain in Peterborough. We rent space up there on a tower and have for years. At the Milford AWC the tower beside the building is still there, although we are no longer occupying that building, with a local radio in the building that allowed us to communicate directly with the crews from that Pack Monadnock repeater. In relocating to Bedford we need to maintain that same level of communication. Unfortunately Bedford, being significantly farther east and a significantly greater distance away from the Pack Monadnock tower, we found that it was too far to reliably signal without an elevated antenna. We currently have communications even though there is no tower at Bedford, so you might say you are communicating today so why do you need the tower. Currently we are relying on network connectivity, which largely depends upon leased phone lines from FairPoint, data circuits principally, and the unfortunate part is when we have severe ice storms, severe snow storms, wind events such as perhaps a hurricane, as you all know it is very common that we have trees come down, we have poles come down, and we have lines come down. While those same poles that support our electric cables also support FairPoint s cables, it has proven time and again that when we have a severe storm event that our network connectivity goes down. That means that the only way we can provide reliable communications from Bedford to our crews in the southwestern part of the state is, in fact, to have a tower physically located at Bedford adjacent to the building that allows us to put a radio and antenna there, the same as we had at Milford, so that we have direct communications. It doesn t rely on any network connectivity, it is solely dependent upon having power from our emergency generator and connectivity through buried cables between the AWC building and the tower that we are proposing in the back corner of

3 Zoning Board of Adjustment Minutes April 26, the yard. We are not proposing that this be used for cell purposes; we recognize that that is a requirement of our ordinance, and in the context of a typical telecommunications tower that makes perfectly good sense. In our case our goal is to have a single-use, single-purpose tower solely for our use, and one of the reasons for that is when there is a storm event, the Bedford AWC, as all of our Area Work Centers that are affected by the storm, get very busy. We have contractors in as well as all of our own crews on overtime, we have bucket trucks and other people in and out of there constantly making deliveries, picking up material, marshalling, and coordinating the activity. Your ordinance is not unlike many others that require a setback from the property line so that it is equal to or greater than the height of the tower, so we picked a location kind of to the north side of the building but didn t have adequate fall zone, so we picked another location, which is now behind the building but it is immediately adjacent to our laydown area where we have a lot of large stock that is stockpiled and where the crews are frequently in and out loading and unloading, and it is bordered on the back side by the wetlands area. It is really sandwiched in there pretty tight and there simply isn t space for the shelters and cabinets that would typically be associated with a cell installation, nor could we really accommodate the cell maintenance people in a storm situation who would want to be in there fueling their generators, maybe climbing the tower to replace antennas that were damaged in the storm, so it would be impractical for us to do that and would make it a real challenge and may not be attractive to cell carriers for that reason as well. That is the summary of why we are here before you this evening. Chairman Morin stated just so people might have an understanding; specifically during a storm, what is the radio used for? Mr. Topliff replied to communicate with our line crews and also with our crews that are out scouting outages. When a customer calls our customer service center in Manchester, we will dispatch a crew and sometimes it is just one person. If it is a storm situation, we will dispatch someone to go out and find out that we have an outage on a street here in Bedford, we need you to go out and identify why the power went off. They will go out and scope it out and will find that a tree is down, or a pole has snapped, and then they will make an assessment of how long they think it will take to restore that power, so when you get the s that we are trying to do a better job of communicating with customers, when you get an or maybe a phone call back from Eversource saying that we recognize there is an outage on your street, our estimated time to restoration is 90 minutes or whatever the number may be, that is the result of someone physically going out into the field and assessing what they see as damage and what they think it will take to restore power, and the way that is communicated is through our mobile radio system. So that is the initial use of it and then we dispatch a line crew with a bucket truck. They will go out and they may need additional material, they may need help finding the exact location where the damage is in order to restore the power to the line, they need to patrol that line and make sure there aren t failures farther down the line that causes it to trip out as well. So there is a lot of handshaking and safety is paramount, as you can imagine. If we reenergize a line that is laying on the ground or is hanging low to the ground and someone would come in contact with it, maybe it is hanging on someone s vehicle, if we were to energize that, someone could get seriously hurt or killed. We have to be in

4 Zoning Board of Adjustment Minutes April 26, constant communication with each other and with folks back in Bedford and also our systems operation center in Manchester, to coordinate all activity and make sure that we need to restore power as quickly as possible, but we need to do it the most importantly safe way. Chairman Morin asked for your Bedford operation, what is the distance that they go out? Just a guesstimate. Mr. Topliff replied certainly out as far as Peterborough to the west, probably into Hillsborough to the north, the Henniker area, and then east. Certainly from here our next closest AWC is Nashua, so it is quite a bit to the south and quite a bit to the east. It is a pretty large area. Mr. Green stated you knew you were moving from Milford to here; didn t anybody say we have an issue with how to connect with Pack Monadnock and sort of do that as part of the planning as opposed to we have a problem after you are already in and have closed Milford. Mr. Topliff replied in a perfect world that sort of preplanning would be done. Unfortunately that is not often the case simply because upper level management doesn t have an understanding of what some of these challenges may be. They make a decision based upon economics and then it trickles down, so we find out they are closing Milford and oh by the way, what we need to do to continue to provide reliable communications and that is where I come in. Mr. Golon stated I want to point out the graphic posted on the screen. When we were talking about the telecommunications tower, and we will talk more about it as we get into the application, but it is a proposed monopole structure. I just wanted to point out the top-mount in comparison to maybe something you are used to seeing, something with a lot of sectors, dishes, that surround the top. This isn t that type of tower. If you have been through the Hooksett area, we recently installed one similar to this as far as the top-mount antenna that Mr. Topliff and I had worked on. I think the appearance of it is different than what I think a lot of people come to expect when you are talking about telecommunications towers and a lot of it has to do with what this is being serviced for, how it would be used and the intent to have it as a single-use tower. Councilor Rombeau stated I do have a question about the collocation point. I understand why you would not want to have collocating cell companies. I know from the Town Council meeting that the feeling is mutual that cell companies don t want to deal with the interruptions of being over powerlines and dealing with utility companies necessarily, but are they ever collocated for other services like fire, police, and safety? That is a discussion that we are continuing to have in town where we need to put fire and police radio responders. Is that something that has been discussed? Mr. Topliff replied I believe there was an inquiry. Mr. Golon stated at the beginning of the project we actually reached out with police and fire and said this is a project that is looking to move forward as we had some reservations, to say the least, about collocation, the potential to have the municipal collocation wasn t as fearful. We did go through that process and it was determined that their coverage is fine for this area. Councilor Rombeau stated I figured maybe it did not serve the purposes that were needed. Chairman Morin stated it is probably 1.5 miles away from this. Councilor Rombeau

5 Zoning Board of Adjustment Minutes April 26, stated I just wanted to check off that box. Mr. Topliff stated to further answer your question because it is certainly a valid one, one of the things that Eversource does is we work hard to be supportive of local municipalities and public safety communications in particular and absolutely at some point in the future should Bedford say we would really like to put an antenna on that tower, assuming that the Town was okay with it, we would certainly be in favor of that. Their antennas typically are very similar to what we are proposing here, just a whip antenna, not a set of panel antennas. Mr. Golon stated I would like to read the special exception application into the record. We will have an opportunity to go through a couple of the graphics that show what we believe this will look like, essentially the results of the 2-day balloon test we did. There is a fair amount of mature tree growth around us so we lost a couple of balloons in the process and we had to put a few more up as the wind played tricks with us. It was difficult to see from the surrounding area and we will have an opportunity to look at that a little bit when we look at our perspectives. Mr. Golon stated a special exception is requested to permit the construction of a wireless telecommunications tower at the existing Bedford AWC located at 12 Bellemore Drive on a lot zoned Service Industrial. It is probably important to point out is that this is a Service Industrial area. A. Burden of Proof: (1) A location plan of other existing commercial wireless telecommunications towers or antennas within a 3-mile radius of the proposed site for a new facility with complete documentation, including financial information to justify why the proposed facility cannot utilize an existing or approved tower, building, antenna, equipment area, or other existing structure within a 3-mile radius. Please see the map and Figure 1 in Appendix A, displaying the 14 existing telecommunications towers within a 3-mile radius of the proposed tower at the existing Bedford AWC. Relative to the justification for why the proposed facility cannot utilize an existing structure or as otherwise stated: we feel it is important to expand on the nature of the use of the facility as a public utility infrastructure improvement project and how it differs from a typical cellular telecommunications tower. Due to the closure of their Milford AWC, Eversource is proposing a 100-foot telecommunications tower (125-foot maximum including antenna) to be constructed at Eversource s existing Bedford AWC located at 12 Bellemore Drive in Bedford, New Hampshire. The proposed tower will enable Eversource to reach the Pack Monadnock repeater and other repeaters to ensure Bedford has uninterrupted access to EverSource s radio coverage area in a storm event. We anticipate placing three antennas on the tower with radio and networking equipment installed in the adjacent building. Mr. Golon asked Mr. Topliff, is that still the case here? Mr. Topliff replied no, it would be an equipment cabinet at the base of the tower. Mr. Golon stated one of the things that did happen, and Mr. Topliff pointed that out at the beginning, is that we did have a location for the tower. It was originally located along the north side of the building, which is in closest proximity to where it needed to tie into the building. Through a process with a neighbor, as well as Town staff, it was relocated to the east side of the building, so anywhere there is a disagreement, I will make sure I point that out. Use of any tower not physically located

6 Zoning Board of Adjustment Minutes April 26, adjacent to the Bedford AWC negates the value of using the tower given its proposed use. In the event of a major storm, it is highly likely that utility poles, and consequently leased data circuits, will be out of service. Considering Eversource s goal is to ensure reliable communications between the storm recovery management team working out of the Bedford AWC and their field crews, it is imperative that this communications link not be dependent on any off-premise cables and equipment, as to what Mr. Topliff was speaking to in his opening. (2) A list of all contact made with owners of potential sites regarding the availability of potential paces for wireless telecommunications facilities. Use of any tower not physically located adjacent to the Bedford AWC negates the value of using the tower given its proposed use. In the event of a major storm it is highly likely that utility poles, and consequently leased data circuits, will be out of service. Considering Eversource s goal is to ensure reliable communications between the storm recovery management team working at the Bedford AWC and their field crews. It is imperative that this communications link now be dependent upon any off-premise cables and equipment. Due to the nature of the needs outlined, there are no viable sites to contact regarding the availability of collocation for the proposed wireless telecommunications facility. (3) Copes of all letters of inquiry made to owners of existing structures that are suitable to locate its wireless telecommunications facility, requesting a reply within 30 days, and letters of rejection. If responses are not received within 30 days of postmark, they may be considered unanswered and return receipt request forms from the United States Post Office shall be provided. Use of any tower not physically located adjacent to the Bedford AWC negates the value of using the tower given its proposed use. In the event of a major storm it is highly likely that utility poles, and consequently leased data circuits, will be out of service. Considering Eversource s goal is to ensure reliable communications between the storm recovery management team working out of the Bedford AWC and their field crews, it is imperative that this communications link not be dependent on any off-premise cables and equipment. Due to the nature of the needs outlined, there are no viable sites to contact regarding the availability of collocation for the proposed wireless telecommunications facility. As no potential sites were identified, there are no letters of inquiry included with this application. (4) If the application claims that the structure is not capable of physically supporting proposed wireless telecommunications equipment, this claim must be certified by a qualified structural engineer licensed in New Hampshire and submitted to the Zoning Board of Adjustment. The certification shall, at a minimum, explain the structural issues and demonstrate that the structure cannot be modified to support the wireless telecommunications facility without unreasonable costs. In this case that would be not applicable. B. Master plan. A master plan of the applicant s ultimate transmission proposal for the, including the number of facilities that will be needed to provide uninterrupted service within Bedford and general locations for any necessary future facilities to effectuate the applicant s master plan. This works a little bit differently for our purpose. Eversource is proposing this single telecommunications tower to ensure reliable communications between the storm recovery management team working at the Bedford AWC and their field crews. The proposed tower will provide the coverage necessary to ensure the and surrounding areas have uninterrupted

7 Zoning Board of Adjustment Minutes April 26, access to Eversource s radio coverage area in a storm event. As this tower is not for a commercial cellular carrier, there is no proposed master plan associated with this project. Should future needs change Eversource will prepare a new application for consideration by the Town. C. Radio frequency coverage analysis. A coverage analysis for the proposed site shall include, at a minimum, two antenna heights with a minimum 10 feet of separation. In addition, the applicant shall provide a composite map showing all proposed and existing sites within the 10-mile radius from the proposed site as well as a summary sheet identifying the following for each site propagated. The application lists the following: coordinates, transmitter effective radiated power, receiver signal threshold, antenna height, and there would be no sectors associated with this proposed antenna. A plan identifying the radio frequency coverage and a composite map displaying existing and proposed Eversource telecommunications sites within a 10-mile radius have been provided in Appendix B of the application. The composite map was posted on the screen. Chairman Morin stated with the picture posted it tells us what gray means, predicted to offer no coverage, but what is green, what is pink and orange. Mr. Topliff replied those represent different levels of signal strength and it is commonly done to give us a sense of where the signal is going to be really strong and where it may be a little weaker but still serviceable. Anywhere you see a color other than gray means that the signal strength would be usable for our mobile radio system. D. Viewshed analysis. A viewshed analysis, including photographs of a crane test moored at the site indicated the vicinity of the proposed structure from all abutting streets and other key locations as determined by the Zoning Administrator. Public notification is required seven days in advance in the local daily newspaper of wide circulation. Mr. Golon stated we did not conduct a crane test, but we did coordinate that with Town staff to make sure we were going about it correctly with a balloon test. A preapplication meeting with Bedford Town staff determined that a balloon test was appropriate for this application. The balloon test was conducted on Monday, April 10 th, and given we had some adverse weather conditions; we had another one the following day on Tuesday, April 11 th. Photo documentation of the balloon test can be found in Appendix D of this document. Photo locations were coordinated with Town staff and consisted of the following: Bellemore Drive, Whisper Drive, Plummer Hill Road, Tirrell Hill Road, Holbrook Road, New Boston Road, Rundlett Hill Road, and from the Market Basket site on Donald Street. As anticipated, visibility of the balloon was limited due to the topography of the surrounding area and existing vegetation. Mr. Golon stated now I will review the photo renderings. The blue items on the rendering are the actual perspective locations. 1) Looking from Bellemore Drive from centerline of the road looking toward the existing AWC. You can see off to the right the emergency marshalling area that is being constructed. In the back shows the carport and located off the back of the building we can see our 100-foot tower with our 25-foot antenna. There is some existing vegetation along the existing frontage and I believe it consists of maples and oaks. 2) Looking from the entrance of Market Basket you can see that it is tough to see. If we peek between the trees, you can see the top of the antenna just below the treeline. The monopole itself is being obscured by the existing treeline itself.

8 Zoning Board of Adjustment Minutes April 26, ) Looking from Rundlett Hill Road we can see some of the existing transmission towers that are located here and then more views on the lower part of Rundlett Hill Road. As we work our way upslope, there is a little bit better visibility. From the upper portion it is a little bit tough to see and a similar view as you work your way down Rundlett Hill Road. 4) We did work our way up Bellemore Drive, it is obscured by the existing treeline along Bellemore Drive, and then Whisper Drive looking toward the AWC and there is no sight line. It was a nice clear day so we should have been able to see it if we could. Next is Plummer Hill Road; there was no sightline. Further along on Plummer Hill Road looking south there is no sightline. Now looking from the middle of Tirrell Hill Road looking east there is no sightline and then working our way down Holbrook Road looking northeast, obscured by the existing treeline. A lot of this has to do with the topography of the existing site. Where it is located next to Bowman Brook, it is kind of the low point in town, so with the existing vegetation that is immediately surrounding it, you have some obscured views, but then as you start to work your way away from the site with that grade change and the existing vegetation in place, it makes it very difficult to see. Mr. Golon continued to post the views from various locations indicated in the application with photographs. I think we hit all the most important locations, the sightlines are certainly minimal as you get closer, the Market Basket seeing that Bowman Brook is between the two and you have the transmission towers, there is a little bit of a sightline there, but given the industrial nature of that area in general, it would seem to be in keeping with its surroundings. E. Aesthetic impact mitigation proposal. An aesthetic impact mitigation proposal, which should include existing and proposed landscaping, proposed site grading, proposed limits of clearing, siting considerations relative to surrounding topography, color, camouflage, disguise mechanisms (i.e., disguising a monopole as a pine tree or a light pole), or other mitigation techniques based on evaluation of USGS maps, the subject property is located at a sustainably lower elevation than the vast majority of the surrounding area. Bowman Brook runs north to south along the east side of the site with Rundlett Hill, Beards Hill and other significant land formations defining the immediate tributary area to this water body. Elevations of these adjacent land formations extend 200 feet to 250 feet above the elevation of the subject site. It kind of bears in mind why we were not seeing it from those locations. Relative to the location of the tower on site: It is proposed at the limits of the secure fenced yard of the Bedford AWC on the east side of the existing building. In this vicinity the north side of the subject site is bound by an existing 25-foot drainage easement that discharges to Bowman Brook. Beyond the easement the property is bordered by a vacant lot consisting of a mix of deciduous and coniferous trees of heights varying from approximately 10 feet to 100 feet. A conservation easement protects areas east of the existing site security fence, which includes Bowman Brook and an existing electrical utility corridor consisting of distribution and transmission lines. Right along the back of the existing Eversource fenceline is where that conservation easement falls. It really limited us as far as where we could locate this tower. Distribution poles located on the far east side of the corridor vary in height from 35 feet to 55 feet and the transmission poles located near the west side of the property vary in height from approximately 65 feet to 125 feet. Those taller poles are located more in the recessed portions, just to

9 Zoning Board of Adjustment Minutes April 26, make that clear. As you could see, they are almost on equal height when we looked at some of those photos. South of the tower is the recently constructed emergency marshalling area. Further beyond the emergency marshalling area is Route 114 with a mature forest located between the two consisting of a mix of deciduous and coniferous trees of height varying from approximately 10 to 100 feet. This is the area in which we have built out for the emergency marshalling area but all of the treed area indicated on the posted photo remains. On the site to the immediate west of the tower is the existing Eversource AWC building. To the west offsite is Bellemore Drive and Blue Dolphin Pools & Spas. An existing mature forest runs parallel with Bellmore Drive between the Eversource and Blue Dolphin buildings. Route 114 continues running in a north/south orientation further west of Blue Dolphin. The project team will continue to work with Town staff to evaluate and improve the existing landscape screening along the Bellemore Drive property frontage as appropriate. Current screening on the subject property consists of birch, oak, elm, spruce, pine, and hemlock trees in addition to lower growing shrubs. Mr. Golon stated now looking at our site as it was recently updated with the Planning Board submittal that was made. We have added some landscaping within the yard at Planning staff s request. As we zoom in on the rendering, shown is the telecommunications tower that is protected by bollards and that it is completely located behind the secure fenced yard and barbwire fenced yard Eversource has. The cabinet that would support that structure is located as shown, and we have added a couple of landscape plantings adjacent to this light pole at the request of Town staff. They are lower growing shrubs that are not intended to shield the 125-foot tower, but really the cabinet from the adjacent property owned by Chuck Bellmore. There is an existing treeline shown and is primarily located on his property, and there is a drainage easement that really defines that northerly most portion. The intent there is to provide something to shield that cabinet and being that we are in an industrial area, the cabinet itself, when we read through the regulations as far as making sure that if it were to be a shelter that conforms to the architecture of the surrounding buildings. It is a metal cabinet, it is similar to the surrounding buildings in that it is industrial in character, so we felt that we were in keeping with the requirements for that but we would be soliciting your feedback to make sure that is the case. I will just note that we worked with Town staff on how we best shield this and that was the result. That will move forward with the Planning Board application. F. Radio frequency radiation emission. The applicant shall provide appropriate documentation calculating the radio frequency radiation emission per current FCC regulations taking into account all current users of the structure. A copy of the document must be forwarded to the Building Code Official at time of building permit application. The FCC s regulation OET Bulletin 65 restricts the maximum human radio frequency (RF) exposure limit at MHz to 0.2 milliwatts per square centimeter. The submitted calculations, located in Appendix E of the application, anticipate an exposure limit of approximately 1.6E-09 milliwatts per square centimeter at the base of the tower, under the worst case scenario, which is equation 6 of that bulletin. In addition, the exposure threshold is a time dependent restriction and formula by design to achieve the worst-case scenario, assumes a continuous duty transmitter. The proposed telecommunications transmitter is intermittent duty, which will result in a

10 Zoning Board of Adjustment Minutes April 26, further reduction of the RF exposure level. Mr. Golon asked Mr. Topliff, could you give us a little bit of the logic behind that so we make sure everyone understands how this tower works a little bit differently than a cellular tower. Mr. Topliff stated in the case of cell towers, they have what they call a control channel that is transmitting 24/7, so there is always transmitting energy coming from a cell tower. It is necessary in order to handshake with our cellphones. In the case of our tower the only time that we will be emitting any energy from the antenna at the top of the tower would be when someone physically in the Bedford AWC has their hand on the button and is communicating or talking to a field unit. It is very intermittent in nature, the duty cycle is very short, so that further reduces, it is a time sensitive concern, and in this case it is not continuous duty, it is very intermittent duty. It would be a low percentage. G. Collocation. (1) No Special Exception or nonresidential site plan review will be required if a company chooses to utilize an existing or approved tower, building, equipment area, or other existing structure. A building permit from the Building Code Official will still be required. The collocator shall also supply the Building Code Official with appropriate documentation calculating the radio frequency radiation emission per current FCC regulations taking into account all current users of the structure. Mr. Golon stated this is not applicable with our application. Mr. Golon stated the following two items are the items in which we are requesting relief in the form of a variance: (2) Each Commercial carrier application for a new wireless telecommunications facility shall submit a written confirmation to the Zoning Board of Adjustment specifying that the carrier agrees to design and construct the new facility to structurally accommodate the equipment of at least two carriers, including the applicant. The spacing shall be based on 10 feet per carrier, utilization of three sectors and a total of 12 antennas per carrier. The written document must also specify that the applicant agrees to provide for shared use of the proposed facility to maximum structural capacity at industry standard lease rates. Eversource respectfully requests a variance from this requirement, as the intended us of the structure will ensure Bedford has uninterrupted access to Eversource s radio coverage area in a storm event. The radio coverage conveys their voice dispatch system used to communicate with line crews. As this project is paramount to the safety and well-being of Eversource clients, unforeseen complications due to collocation provide unnecessary risk. Please see the variance application, submitted with this Special Exception application. (3) The applicant shall also submit a shared use evaluation from which provides notice to all commercial carriers in the region that a new wireless telecommunications facility is proposed to be erected and that a potential opportunity for collocation exists. Eversource respectfully requests a variance from this requirement, as the intended us of the structure will ensure Bedford has uninterrupted access to Eversource s radio coverage area in a storm event. The radio coverage conveys their voice dispatch system used to communicate with line crews. As this project is paramount to the safety and well-being of Eversource clients, unforeseen complications due to collocation provide unnecessary risk. Please see the variance application, submitted with this Special Exception application. Mr. Golon stated I realize the variance is obviously a separate item to this

11 Zoning Board of Adjustment Minutes April 26, but we wanted to make sure that we tied the two together because they are part-andparcel. One is essentially required by the other. Mr. Golon stated relative to the presentation that has been provided thus far for the Special Exception, we had the opportunity to go through the visibility analysis, the viewshed, to see how this would be seen from surrounding areas, giving you a more close-up view as far as if you were to drive up to the front of the facility to see how it would look. We recognize that we are in an industrial district and that in our minds the character of the area certainly would not be impacted by the addition of this public utility infrastructure project. Mr. Golon stated a variance is requested from Article VI, Section G(2) and (3) of the Zoning Ordinance to permit single entity occupation and to not provide a shared use evaluation form indicating the opportunity for collocation for the proposed public utility telecommunications tower at 12 Bellmore Drive. Mr. Golon proceeded to review the criteria for the variance application. 1. Granting the variance would not be contrary to the public interest: Granting the variance would not be contrary to the public interest in that it will allow for installation of a safe, secure telecommunications tower with the purpose of facilitating the adequate provision of electricity, an essential public requirement. (1) Whether granting the variance would alter the essential character of the locality: The subject site is located in the Service Industrial zoning district and the industrial character of the site has been established by the existing operations of the Bedford Area Work Center (AWC) and abutting uses, which include electrical transmission and distribution towers and adjacent utility corridor. Other telecommunications tower are located in the vicinity with the closest being the tower at the Bedford safety complex on Constitution Drive. This facility is used for a similar purpose in promoting public safety. Providing relief from this specific section of the Zoning Ordinance to not require collocation or submittal of a shared use evaluation form indicating the opportunity for collocation is in the best interest of the public. (2) Whether granting the variance would threaten public health, safety and welfare: The tower will be incorporated within the secured fenced yard of the Bedford AWC facility and the radio and networking equipment will be installed in the existing adjacent AWC building for which there is no public access. There would be a cabinet that is located next to our tower but, again, it is also located within the secure facility. Relief from this specific section of the Zoning Ordinance can be provided in that it is in the best interest of the public to not provide the opportunity for collocation of additional uses whose presence on the tower could compromise the reliability of the communications between the Eversource storm response team. Granting the variance would not threaten public health, safety or welfare, but would benefit it. 2. The spirit of the ordinance is observed: The variance fits within the spirit of the Zoning Ordinance in that it facilitates the adequate provision of electricity, an essential public requirement. The spirit of the ordinance is observed in that the design as presented efficiently promotes the health, safety and general welfare of the public. 3. Granting the variance would do substantial justice: The specific design as proposed has the benefits of allowing the applicant to provide reliable electric service to the public outweighing the potential benefit to the public in allowing collocation by a commercial

12 Zoning Board of Adjustment Minutes April 26, cellular carrier. The proposed single-entity telecommunications tower will enable Eversource to reliably communicate between dispatch and line crews. By granting single-entity occupancy Eversource will continue to securely operate the Bedford AWC and ensure the electric supply to Bedford and the surrounding areas has as few interruptions as possible during adverse weather conditions. 4. The values of the surrounding properties will not be diminished for the following reasons: The site is located in the Service Industrial zoning district. The industrial character of the site has been established by the existing operations of the Bedford AWC and abutting uses, which include electrical transmission and distribution towers and an adjacent utility corridor. Therefore no diminution in value would be expected from the authorization of the requested variance to allow single-entity occupancy in comparison to collocation, as this would not substantially change the character of the area. 5. Literal enforcement of the provisions of the ordinance would result in an unnecessary hardship. Special conditions of the property distinguish it from other properties in the area: Special conditions pertaining to this property that distinguish it from other properties in the area includes the existing use of the site as a secure public utility area work center. The geometry of the lot and location of the existing building on the lot and the specific use of the proposed telecommunications tower as a public infrastructure improvement to enable Eversource to reach the Pack Monadnock repeater and other repeaters to ensure Bedford has uninterrupted access to Eversource s radio coverage area in a storm event. A. Denial of the variance would result in unnecessary hardship: i. No fair and substantial relationship exists between the general public purposes of the ordinance provision and the specific application of that provision to the property: The overall purpose of the ordinance is to promote the health, safety and general welfare of the public. Relief from this specific section of the Zoning Ordinance to not require collocation or submittal of a shared use evaluation form indicating the opportunity for collocation, can be provided without frustrating the purpose of the ordinance and that the overriding factor of the safety of the public is observed. Our understanding is the ordinance was intended to promote the shared use of telecommunications facilities in Bedford and to limit the number of new telecommunications towers for cellular carriers. As the proposed facility is not for a cellular carrier and is intended to promote the adequate provision of electricity, a public requirement, there is no fair and substantial relationship with the collocation requirement. ii. The proposed use is a reasonable one: The location and existing use of the property as a public utility area work center make the locating of a singleentity occupancy telecommunications tower to support the electrical infrastructure needs of the community in an appropriate selection. Requiring collocation would create a hardship for the applicant in that it would introduce additional variables whose presence on the tower could compromise the reliability of the communications between the Eversource storm response team. Chairman Morin asked the public for those wishing to speak in favor of this project. There were none. Chairman Morin asked the public for those wishing to speak in opposition to this project. There were none.

13 Zoning Board of Adjustment Minutes April 26, Chairman Morin stated I would like to make you aware of something now. As you can see, we only have four members tonight. With four members a tie vote is a denial. I am wondering if you would like to table until the May Zoning Board meeting. Mr. Golon responded one thing is we would appreciate the courtesy of the Board with regard to this project is if there is a question in a Board member s mind prior to moving forward with a vote, we would appreciate that feedback. There is always a time sensitivity to any project, Mr. Topliff has exhibited that they are making due with other means right now, but being that it is in the best interest of the public and Eversource to get this facility up and running as soon as possible, if there are no concerns, we would like the opportunity to have it voted on this evening. But if there are concerns by the Board, that those be expressed such that it could be tabled to have a full board. Chairman Morin stated I will go through the criteria and I don t know if any of the Board members have any questions concerning this project, while I am going through it, just to see if anything has been missed. Mr. Green stated the only concern I would have is that I noticed the Town Council talked about having a moratorium. Would that be applicable in this case? Councilor Rombeau replied that was specifically for the Town-owned property on Chubbuck Road. Chairman Morin stated with regard to the fall zone; you really didn t talk about it. Mr. Golon stated we have a fall zone plan. We looked previously at the location of the property. The property extends considerably beyond this border. The existing conditions plan actually is made up by three sheets so that we could show the entirety of the area. The fall zone is represented on the posted slide, which is that 125 feet, and we have feet to the rear property line, we have feet to the front property line, and I believe 166 feet to the northerly portion, so when we look at the fall zone and where is it going to fall, it is all on Eversource property. It is most likely within the confines of their existing fence. We have a very good structural engineer to make sure that these things don t fall down. Chairman Morin asked what about maintenance of facility and security of removal? You have talked about maintenance a little bit, but how about security for removal. I did not see anything in here specified and that is part of our criteria. Mr. Golon responded we were looking for a little bit of feedback. We realize this is a little bit of a different type of application; it is located within a secure facility that Eversource is actively working and maintaining. If there was a security that the Board felt was appropriate, we thought this would be a good forum in which to discuss that. Chairman Morin stated the only reason I bring it up is you talk about the closure of the Milford AWC and I don t know how long that was there, but now there is a tower sitting there that who knows what is going to happen with it, so we have to look at that same thing for here. If in 20 years you decide another facility is going to be built somewhere else, we have to ensure that something is going to happen with that antenna, it is not just going to sit there. Mr. Golon stated Mr. Topliff; you have had the opportunity to work on a great number of these types of projects. Is there a little bit of a case example or something typical that you have dealt with when it comes to a security that is provided to make sure that should Eversource

14 Zoning Board of Adjustment Minutes April 26, ever vacate the premise that the tower would be appropriately removed? Mr. Topliff responded I certainly understand the reasoning for it in the context of a telecommunications tower that is principally used for cell systems because that can be out in the woods some place off the road, easily forgotten, easily ignored, easily abandoned, and potentially fall and be a hazard to the public. In this case if the Board decides that some sort of surety is required, I am sure we could work that out; I have no question about that. In the case of Milford, we had considered taking it down but we found out from the commercial realtor that is representing the Milford facility that they felt that was a benefit because it might be occupied by a construction company or some other firm that would see that as an asset. Just as an aside, as you may have seen in the paper that the State Legislature has dictated that Eversource will divest or sell all of its generation facilities, so just last week I spent a day at Merrimack Station in Bow with American Crane and a tower contractor removing a microwave dish antenna and a tower from the roof of that structure specifically because we are not using it anymore, and it is old, and we felt it was prudent to take it down. So that is something that we do pay attention to. We are very sensitive to aging structures that may be a risk or hazard or some fashion, and I can t speak for something 25 years from now, but that is something the company as a rule is certainly sensitive and aware of. Again, we are certainly willing to cooperate with the Board and if that is something you feel is important, we really want to have it, so I am sure we could find a way to make that happen. Chairman Morin stated my question to the Board is, and we have done it in the past, do you want to utilize an expert to look at the radio frequency issue. Councilor Rombeau responded I understand that this report is compliant, but do we have any further analysis of the qualifications or an outside assessment. Chairman Morin stated and we can do that so if the Board is interested in that, we can look at having an expert do an analysis for the Town. Ms. Stirling stated I guess because of its intermittent use as opposed to its continuous use, that is really less of a concern for me. Mr. Green stated I agree. Chairman Morin stated I am kind of up in the air with it. I understand it is intermittent but it might be worthwhile to have it done just so we have all the information in front of us so that we don t have a question. Mr. Green asked would we have it for our next meeting? Ms. Elmer replied it is up to the applicant. The one comment I had in my staff report is that the data that has been submitted does not have any qualifications, we don t know who did the report, so without knowing who did the report, maybe just at a minimum have them provide all of that information to us. We don t know if it was an engineer, we just don t know who did it. There was no document and you need a stamped document. Mr. Golon stated perhaps I can clarify that. We will provide a stamped document if that is required. It was calculated by T. F. Moran inhouse by one of our engineers, reviewed by a PE and then also reviewed by a principal. From there that document then goes to Eversource where their telecommunications engineer reviews it to make sure that the information provided is accurate. Chairman Morin asked it is an RF engineer that did that? Mr. Topliff stated I am the RF engineer, a degreed electrical engineer and I have been doing RF my entire life. An interesting example and this was a number of years ago, the company I was working for in 2010 and 2011 was working on a project for New Hampshire Electric Cooperative and we