Morrisville Wireless Telecommunication Facilities Master Plan - 2013

Wireless Telecommunication Facilities Master Plan - Town of Morrisville, NC – Adopted July 23, 2013

Town-owned properties Many of the geographic areas identified for new wireless infrastructure are in areas where towers have not traditionally be permitted by the Town zoning regulations. The Town has reviewed its town-owned lands as potential new tower locations in effort to get the needed wireless infrastructure into residential and lower intensity land use zoning districts. CityScape reviewed the list of Town-owned land and with specific interest in the properties located within areas where new wireless infrastructure is projected over the next ten years through the master plan mapping process. CityScape went to each of the Town-owned land sites to evaluate if the site could meet general industry site acquisition criteria. A number of the Town’s lands were removed from the potential due to either poor access, lack of access to power, size or lot configuration. The list of potential sites was presented to staff, elected and appointed officials and the citizenry and a final list of eighteen properties was selected for consideration and wireless communications planning purposes. CityScape and staff made recommendations to the at-large community on how each of these properties could be potentially used by the industry, specifically relative to the type of infrastructure to be place on each individual property. For example, a faux tower, light stanchion, or flag pole. Through the public workshop and online poling venues citizenry voted on the type of infrastructure they would support on the specific Town-owned properties. The final list of properties is provided in Table 5. Photographs and infrastructure recommendations for each property is provided in the Inventory Catalogue in Appendix E. Leasing public-owned lands assures the community the preference of concealment materials and technologies presently available to the industry. As public sites are developed, the infrastructure installed becomes the precedent of how future sites should be developed on private land. For example, many “tree towers” and “flag pole” towers are available to the industry, as well as other creative ideas for concealment towers; some are more aesthetically pleasing and more practical than other types. As the local government utilizes these products, their applications become the standard for future tower sites on both public and private land. As public land sites are considered and utilized for these purposes, staff gains invaluable knowledge on how wireless sites are constructed, which will aid them in reviewing and processing future site plan designs and evaluations on both public and private properties. Leasing public lands for purposes of new wireless infrastructure can create new sources of public revenue. As new sites are developed on public land, the community generates lease revenue from that tower owner and tenant. Figure 17 illustrates the Town’s properties that could potentially be used for future wireless infrastructure.

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