- March 27, 2024
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The proposed tower is designed to look like a tree, but the City Commission denied the rezoning application.
BY MATT MENCARINI | STAFF WRITER
The construction of a 150-foot cell phone tower would provide improved mobile service to a one-mile stretch of the city, near the Granada Boulevard corridor. But that wasn't enough to convince the Ormond Beach City Commission that the improvements outweighed the aesthetic downside.
In a 4-1 vote, with Mayor Ed Kelley as the lone dissenter, the commission denied Capital Telecom and Shah Industries Inc. a rezoning application for the camouflaged AT&T tower, at 1102 W. Granada Blvd., behind Houligan’s.
In the application, Capital Telecom requested a variance on the city code that requires a 200% setback of a tower’s height from a residential district; the tower was proposed to be built 117 feet fewer than code requires. The companies also sought an exception on code that would require their site, which is already designated as "an existing nonconforming developed site," to be brought up to modern standards.
Presenting the application to the commission, Lauralee Westine, of Capital Telecom, presented an email from Dick Morgart, president of the South Forty Trail Homeowners Association, in which he said he had “no objection” to the tower being built inside the required city setback.
She also cited public benefits, such as improved cell service, additional landscaping and fewer dropped 911 calls, which Westine said are made from cell phones 75% of the time in Volusia County.
A camouflaged tower on Old Kings Road had been approved in the past, and Westine cited that, as well.
“I voted to approve that,” City Commissioner Bill Partington said. “And now I’m sorry that I did, because when I’m headed eastbound on Granada (Boulevard), right about the Einstein Bagels, I see the upside down toilet scrub brush.”
Commissioners Troy Kent, Rick Boehm and James Stowers agreed with Partington, noting that preserving the aesthetics of a busy stretch of the city was more important than improved phone service, which could potentially be reached with smaller towers in other locations.
“This does not meet the setback requirements,” Stowers said. “To me, what I’ve heard is this is the best possible location, the most efficient location for the largest tower. ... What I read between the lines is, this will make money — the most amount of money — with the least amount of investment. That’s what this is about.”
But the potential negative aesthetics, to Kelley, were offset by the improvements to cell phone service.
“I feel it’s needed,” Kelley said, adding he hadn’t noticed the Old Kings Road tower as a negative while driving around the city.
“We live in a wireless community,” he said. “In my house, and I have AT&T, I have no bars in my office. ... I’ve seen my neighbors standing outside talking on their phones because they don’t get the coverage.”
The Planning Board had previously voted against the application 3-3, April 11. City staff also recommended denying the development order application.
An accompanying ordinance was also denied by the City Commission.
Let's settle this
The City Commission voted to approve a $230,000 settlement with River Bend Investment Group Inc., in regards to a lease agreement and the 2005 removal of trees.
The lease agreement, signed in 1989, stated the trees in a green belt buffer area were to be maintained in a natural condition. In June 2005, the city caused the removal of the trees. The investment group, which at the time controlled the River Bend Golf Course, said the removal caused substantial damages.
River Bend Investment Group sold its leasehold interest and sued the city in 2007 for breach of contract. The investment group, according to the city, was claiming approximately $4 million in total damages.
The settlement will be paid from the city’s self-insured litigation insurance fund, the city said.