Cell tower application ruled incomplete

STEPHEN REID
Editor & Publisher
sreid@lbknews.com

The future of a proposed cell tower on Longboat Key is heading back to the Planning and Zoning Board where the application process will begin anew. This setback to tower proponents comes after the Zoning Board of Adjustment deemed the application incomplete this week.

That news made sense to Longboat resident Gus Sclafani, as he appealed the matter to the board for the determination. Sclafani said there are many issues including a lack of construction plans, construction drawings and engineering analysis that make the application incomplete.

The town deemed the application for the 150-foot cell phone tower complete Sept. 20, but Planning, Building and Zoning Director Monica Simpson said this week at the hearing that the application is in fact incomplete. Simpson said that Town Planner Steve Shield had previously reviewed the application for completeness, while she reviewed elements of it but did not make that determination at the time.

The applicants, Longboat resident Jim Eatrides of Alpha-Omega Communications, LLC and Kevin Barile, president of Ridan Industries, said they will submit the necessary documents.

The process will start anew in that the town now has to evaluate and deem the application “complete” before it can be considered by the Planning and Zoning Board.

The issue is complicated because cell phone towers can only be placed on institutionally zoned property on Longboat Key, and Longboat Island Chapel due to property constraints is unable to support a tower without a special exception. In order to avoid a variance, the applicant is seeking an Outline Development Plan, which allows compatible land uses and more zoning flexibility. In short, instead of a variance, which would require proving hardship, the applicant is only asking for a departure if an outline development plan is approved.

Sclafani says he is fighting the issue in part because it is an “end run” around the town’s land use policy. He said that applying for an Outline Development Plan to erect the cell tower is avoiding the very protection the variance has for property owners.

Town Attorney David Persson wrote this week that another issue will need to be resolved, which is the fight relative to the institutional zoning and whether the Comprehensive Plan restricts the height of a tower on institutionally zoned property to 30 feet.

Persson said that both Sarasota attorneys Michael Furen and Dan Bailey raised the issue at a prior Planning and Zoning Board hearing. If it is found to be in violation of the Comprehensive Plan, tower approval either would be prohibited on its face or the Comprehensive Plan would have to be amended.

The tower applicants and supporters argue that improved cell phone coverage is necessary from both a safety and lifestyle point of view. Many residents complain of dropped calls and having to find a specific location where a call can be placed.

Those against the plan have included not only residents but also a large number of prominent area Realtors. They say that adding a visual obstruction will severely devalue homes in the area and the fact that the town does not restrict towers more strongly is already causing values to depreciate mid-key. Others fear that the radio waves emitted from the tower could have long-lasting health consequences and cite epidemiological research.

The Outline Development Plan for the cell tower at Longboat Island Chapel was originally recommended for approval by the Planning, Zoning and Building Department, with the caveat that the tower be 120 feet instead of the proposed 150 feet, to accommodate for a special exception in the setback distance.

The plan calls for a 150-foot tall cell tower and a 2,044-square-foot equipment compound at the northeast corner of the property. The cell tower would also be at the northeast corner of the property behind the church building. The plan calls for a 20-foot high landscape buffer, which would be planted around the cell tower. The tower would service six different cell phone providers: AT&T, Clearwire, MetroPCS, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon.

The property is currently zoned as Community Facility Institutional District (INS). It is one of two properties at the northern end of Longboat Key that are zoned INS, the other one being the Public Works Department complex on General Harris Street. Cell phone towers are only permitted on Longboat Key on INS designated properties.