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