Moore, Tania
From: Cindi Lee <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, July 17, 2023 6:18 PM
To: CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF); [email protected] Cc: Frakes, Sandie
Subject: OVSD Correspondence re Item 23-585 - Huntington Beach City Council Agenda, July 18, 2023
Attachments: CC Letter 07-18-23 ATT Tower 7-17-23.pdf
Good day,
Please see the attached correspondence from Ocean View School District regarding the above subject matter.
Thank you.
Cindi Lee, Executive Assistant
Office of the Superintendent
OCEAN VIEW SCHOOL DISTRICT
17200 Pinehurst Lane
Huntington Beach, CA 92647
(714) 847-2551, ext. 1309
[email protected]
2 ocean vie
hool Distri
Connections Before Content!
SUPPLEMENTAL
COMMUNICATION
Meeting Date: 7/18/2023
Agenda HamMo: 17(23-585).
1 Ocean View School District
17200 Pinehurst Lane, Superintendent Board of Trustees
Huntington Beach, CA 92647 Michael Conroy, Ed. D. Patricia Singer, President Tel: 714 847-2551 Gina Clayton-Tarvin, Vice President
"Equity and Jack C. Souders, Clerk
Fax: 714 847-1430
Excellence" Morgan Westmoreland, Member
Web: www.ovsd.org Norm Westwell, Member
SENT VIA ELECTRONIC TRANSMISSION
[email protected]
[email protected]
July 17, 2023
The Honorable Tony Strickland, Mayor, and Members of the City Council
CITY OF HUNTINGTON BEACH
2000 Main Street
Huntington Beach, CA 92648
Re: Item 23-585 City Council Agenda July 18, 2023
Appeal of the Planning Commission's Action that Upheld the Zoning Administrator's Approval of Conditional Use Permit No. 23-006 (Huntington Beach Community Church Wireless Communication Facility)
Dear Mayor Strickland and City Councilmembers:
Ocean View School District supports the appeal of the Zoning Administrator's approval of Conditional Use Permit No. 23-006 ("Project") for a 60-foot wireless cell tower located at 8101 Slater Avenue. We request the City Council deny the Project. The appellant, Ms. Christine Price, raises significant concerns with the proposed cell tower that need to be addressed prior to any action by the city on the application. Ocean View School District's Lake View Elementary School is near the proposed Project, and we have concerns with the negative impacts to our students, staff, and facilities. The application materials and supporting exhibits are in error and do not provide accurate information for the public or decision makers to understand or act on the Project.
CEQA Determination
The appellant identified concerns with using Categorical Exemption Section 15303, New Construction or conversion of Small Structures for the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) determination. Although the staff report does not identify what Class 3 construction type the project falls under, it is difficult to conclude the single 60-foot artificial looking broad-leaf- tree cell tower is like a fence, water main, an additional single-family home, or duplex. All the items listed under a Class 3 exemption would blend with and be like the surroundings and would be of similar heights or be in or at ground level. The proposed 60-foot cell tower does not blend with the surroundings aesthetically. The cell tower visually dominates the area, and there are no board leaf trees like this in the area. Furthermore, although the church site has a commercial zoning designation, the adjacent properties are zoned residential. Residential zoning is listed as Huntington Beach City Council
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a sensitive land use in the General Plan. Adverse project aesthetics impact the residents' quality of life.
The Project needs to have a prepared environmental impact report, or at the least, a mitigated negative declaration that analyzes and mitigates the Project's impacts to aesthetics and land use.
It also should establish a need for the facility based on significant coverage gaps defined in the Zoning Code as lack of service. The analysis needs to include project alternatives that lessen environmental impacts, such as a different location, design, and height of the cell tower.
Aesthetics
The photo simulations provided by the applicant do not correctly depict the impact of the proposed cell tower. South Elevation, page 3 of the Plan Set (Attachment 2 of the Staff Report), indicates the cell tower is significantly taller than the eucalyptus trees that border the property line. The southeast view (Photo Simulation View 3) from Windy Sands Circle indicates the cell tower is significantly lower than the eucalyptus trees, as well as the pine tree next to the block wall.
Google Maps, Street View provides an excellent view of the church and its parking lot. The pine tree depicted on Windy Sands Circle is significantly lower than the adjacent eucalyptus trees. The aesthetic impact from the cell tower is significantly greater than is depicted in the photo simulation. The photo simulation depicts the cell tower to be significantly lower than the pine tree, which cannot be the case. Sight prospective does not justify the difference. Also, the top of the pine tree seems to have been altered to appear fuller and possibly taller than it is as shown below:
LOOKING SOUTHEAST FROM WINDY BANDS CIRCLE
Google Maps Street View of Church Site Photo Simulation, Attachment 2 Staff Report Denial Procedure: Staff recommends if the City Council desires to deny Conditional Use Permit 23-006, that the findings not be adopted, and the Conditional Use Permit be continued. However, this is a de novo hearing, and if the project is denied, the applicant would need to reapply for a conditional use permit pursuant to Huntington Beach Zoning Code Section 248.14 - Denial Huntington Beach City Council
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Without Prejudice. However, if denied with prejudice, the applicant would be required to wait one year to reapply, Section 248.12.
Need for 60-Foot Cell Tower
Zoning Code Section 230.96 - Wireless Communication Facilities states a wireless provider may choose a federal preemption because of significant coverage gap in existing service. The applicant states in the Zoning Justification Letter, Attachment 4 to the Staff Report, that they have identified a significant gap in coverage, although the location is left blank. The applicant submitted the "Gap in Coverage Exhibit" found in Attachment 5 of the staff report. This exhibit states that green depicts signal coverage for inside buildings, yellow is sufficient for on-street and most in-vehicle and some in-building, with purple is sufficient signal strength for outdoors, but may not be for in-vehicle or in-building coverage.
Coverage signals are represented by -dBm to determine signal strength. The lower the -dBm the better the quality of service. A signal strength of -50 dBm is excellent and -100 dBm would result in loss of connection and poor service quality. Signal strength for a cell phone correlates to number of bars on the mobile device. -50 to -79 dBm is considered a great signal with 4-5 bars, - 80 to -89 dBm is a good signal with 3-4 bars, -90 to 99 dBm is average with 2-3 bars and -100 to 109 dBm is a poor signal at 1 to 2 bars. The ideal signal strength for wireless TV streaming is -67 dBm or better.
The applicant indicates that they have identified "significant gap in coverage." The exhibit indicates the proposed service area of the cell tower to be mostly purple, -95dMBy, with most roadways as yellow at -85dMb. AT&T indicates that 5G is provided for all this area. The applicant has not established that there is a lack of service, but merely an opportunity to enhance the existing signal strength one more bar.
Gap in Coverage Exhibit (Attachment 5 to Staff Report)
The Gap in Coverage Exhibit is not adequate to understand the signal strength or coverage or the applicant's Project goal. The Gap in Coverage Exhibit needs to be revised to map meaningful signal strengths, such as -50 dBm or better, -50 dBm to -67 dBm, etc., and areas that are worse than -100 dBm that have significant gaps in coverage.
Furthermore, the Gap in Coverage Exhibit is not accurate and uses an out-of-date base map of Huntington Beach. Cell Tower CLL03433 is depicted southwesterly of Talbert Avenue and Beach Blvd. intersection near residential land uses; however, it is located at 18080 Beach Blvd. on the southeasterly corner of Talbert Avenue and Beach Blvd on commercial property. This tower is over 68 feet in height. The underlying base map indicates Crest View Elementary School is in close proximity to a cell tower. However, Crest View Elementary school is closed, and a Walmart shopping center is located on the site. Ocean View School District has a policy not locate a cell tower on any of its property.
Land Use
The Project is inconsistent with the Huntington Beach General Plan and Zoning Code. Zoning Code Section 230.96 - Wireless Communication Facilities states the purpose of this section is to Huntington Beach City Council
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protect public safety, general welfare, and quality of life by regulating the location, height, and physical characteristics, and provide for orderly efficient placement of Wireless Communication Facilities. The applicant is required to establish that a significant gap in wireless coverage exists; the Gap in Coverage Exhibit does not do this and is inaccurate. The applicant has not established the purpose of the Project.
The Project is not consistent with Land Use Element Policy LU-1-D because it is not of compatible proportion, scale, and character to complement adjoining uses. The proposed cell tower dominates the site, and is taller than the eucalyptus trees planted along the side property line.
The photo simulations have been altered to make the cell tower appear smaller and nearby vegetation wider and taller, resulting in altering the understanding of the visual impacts by adjacent property owners. The City Council cannot make this finding to approve the Project.
The Project is not consistent with Public Services and Infrastructure Element Goal PSI-10 or Policy PSI-10-C in that the cell tower, as designed and located, will be detrimental to the quality of life of adjacent residential properties, and has a significant visual impact to the residents within 55 feet of the facility. The proposed cell tower does not blend with the surrounding area and is significantly taller and nothing like the eucalyptus trees planted along the side property lines.
Furthermore, eucalyptus trees in Orange County have frequently been removed from properties due to disease, tendency to be messy, and dropping of large branches causing liability to property owners. The proposed project findings rely on the existing eucalyptus trees that can easily be removed at any time. The Project should analyze the visual impact if the eucalyptus trees are removed.
Ocean View School District supports the appeal of Conditional Use Permit 23-006, and we ask the City Council to vote to deny the application. The city needs to prepare at least a mitigated negative declaration per CEQA requirements. The applicant needs to mitigate aesthetic impacts to the adjacent residents, provide photo simulations that correctly depict the proposed cell tower, and correct the analyses and provide a better understanding of the "gap in coverage" to the decision makers and public. The applicant needs to provide meaningful project alternatives to lessen the environmental impacts of the proposed Project.
Sincerely,
Main lany
Michael Conroy, Ed. D. !
Superintendent
Ocean View School District
CC: Al Zelinka, Huntington Beach City Manager (Sandie. [email protected])