HomeMy WebLinkAbout20182303.tiffMINUTES OF THE WELD COUNTY BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT MEETING
Tuesday, July 17, 2018
A regular meeting of the Weld County Board of Adjustment was held on Tuesday, July 17, 2018, in the
Hearing Room of the Weld County Administration Building, 1150 O Street, Greeley, Colorado. The meeting
was called to order by Chair Jason Maxey at 10:00 a.m.
Roll Call.
Present: Gary Cyr, Jason Maxey, William Hedberg, Michael Wailes, David Stahl Sr.
Absent: Jordan Jemiola, Jim Rohn, Jonathan Key.
Also Present: Chris Gathman, Department of Planning; Frank Haug, County Attorney; and Kristine
Ranslem, Secretary.
Jason Maxey nominated Michael Wailes for Chair, Seconded by David Stahl. Michael Wailes accepted
the nomination.
Michael Wailes nominated Gary Cyr for Vice Chair, seconded by William Hedberg. Gary Cry accepted
the nomination.
CASE NUMBER: BOA18-0002
APPLICANT: PUBLIC SERVICE COMPANY OF COLORADO
PLANNER: CHRIS GATHMAN
REQUEST: A REQUEST FOR A VARIANCE TO ALLOW A PROPOSED 120 -FOOT
MONOPOLE TOWER TO BE LOCATED WITHIN THE REQUIRED
SETBACK PER SECTION 23-4-830.D.3.A OF THE WELD COUNTY
CODE. SECTION 23-4-830.D.3.A OF THE WELD COUNTY CODE
REQUIRES A SETBACK OF 100% OF THE HEIGHT OF THE TOWER.
THE APPLICANT IS PROPOSING TO CONSTRUCT THE MONOPOLE
TOWER 15 -FEET FROM THE SOUTH AND WEST PROPERTY LINES.
LEGAL DESCRIPTION: PART NE4 SECTION 9, T4N, R67W OF THE 6TH P.M., WELD
COUNTY, COLORADO.
LOCATION: WEST OF AND ADJACENT TO CR 19 AND SOUTH OF AND
ADJACENT TO STATE HIGHWAY 60.
Chris Gathman, Planning Services, presented BOA18-0002 reading the recommendation and comments
into the record. Mr. Gathman said that the proposed monopole tower will be located 15 feet from the south
and west property lines. Mr. Gathman noted that the applicants have submitted a Minor Amendment
application to USR18-0003 for an existing substation. Per the Weld County Code, it requires a 100%
setback of the telecommunication antenna tower height and the applicant is requesting a variance for this.
No responses were received from surrounding property owners. The Department of Planning Services is
recommending approval of this request.
Should the Board of Adjustment approve this variance request, the Department of Planning Services
recommends the following conditions:
1. The variance for the offset is solely for this Communication tower in relation to property lines.
2. The MUSR18-0003 map shall be completed and submitted for recording.
Gary Cyr asked what the vertical height of the existing transmission pole. Mr. Gathman said it is 95 feet
high.
Susan Innes, Public Service Company of Colorado, 1800 Larimer Street, Denver, Colorado, stated that
this monopole communication tower is part of a field area network. This is a system of telecommunication
towers that are being installed across Public Service Company's system and tie into their backbone
communication system collecting data about the performance of their electric grid and natural gas delivery
system. She added that they are trying to improve delivery of electric and gas to their consumers. Ms.
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Innes said that they will be able to have real-time monitoring of their system. She stated that the new
monopole will be 120 -feet tall and the transmission structures are 95 feet tall.
Michael Wailes asked if there was opportunity for co -location on this tower. Ms. Innes said that because
this tower will be located inside their electric substation the safety challenges of getting another company
to come in to perform maintenance, if they were to co -locate their devices, gets a little complicated. She
added that they are very sensitive to the security of their data and that is why it is located within their existing
substations where there is data protection already.
Mr. Cyr asked the applicant how many other locations do they anticipate this same type of improvement to
increase their communication. He inquired if more may be sited in the future so this Board isn't looking at
all these improvements. Ms. Innes said that there are approximately 100 towers being installed across the
state and added that there are approximately 10 towers being installed in Weld County.
Jason Maxey asked if this will be done for every site, if necessary. Mr. Gathman said that it is site specific.
He said that some of the older substations are not very large and may not be able to meet the setback
requirements.
Mr. Maxey asked about fall data since if it were to fall it would be outside the boundary. Ms. Innes said that
the tower is designed meet the engineering standards for tall structures and added that it is designed to
withstand 115 mph sustained wind and gusts up to 190 mph. She said that they can't guarantee that
nothing will ever fall but they located this monopole where there are no occupied dwellings.
Jim Gold, Public Service Company of Colorado, 149 Sandstone Drive, Johnstown, Colorado, said that the
structure does meet the design standards. He added that it is all engineered based on the soil report and
it meets the safety standard. He added that if it were to fall it would go in one direction; however, it is highly
unlikely.
The Chair asked if there was anyone in the audience who wished to speak for or against this application.
No one wished to speak.
The Chair asked the applicant if they have read through the Conditions of Approval and if they are in
agreement with those. The applicant replied that they are in agreement.
Motion: Case BOA18-0002 be approved along with the Conditions of Approval as proposed, Moved by
Michael Wailes, Seconded by Gary Cyr.
Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yes = 5).
Yes: David Stahl Sr., Gary Cyr, Jason Maxey, Michael Wailes, William Hedberg.
Meeting adjourned at 10:28 am.
Respectfully submitted,
Kristine Ranslem
Secretary
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