02/13/2019 ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS ZBA Decision

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MASHPEE ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS DECISION FOR A VARIANCE Blue Sky Towers II, LLC 101 Red Brook Road (Map 104 Parcel 2) Mashpee, MA 02649 V-2019-10 These particular carriers are proposing backup powered by generators that run on propane. As Mr. Moreno stated earlier,the site location was identified in the RFP by using the existing infrastructure of the fire station, and will reduce the amount of clearing, and the effort to reduce impact to the area expressed by the Cape Cod Commission. The total disturbance area is a little over 18,000 sq. ft. There were no wetlands identified for the project within 200 ft. of the site. The site is not located in a habitat, it is not in any type of flood plain and does not require additional landscaping. It is an unmanned facility, and will not generate any trash, and there are no water or sewer requirements. There is a proposal for utilities that will be from the street pole,and will run along the fire station to the facility, for both telecommunication, and power. At the Plan Review hearing on February 5, 2019, it was suggested to have underground power lines. The applicant has agreed to place the utilities underground rather than using the utility poles. Attorney Thompson said that a study was performed on April 14, 2018, that consisted of a balloon test at the site, and was publicly noticed. Both the Cape Cod Commission and the Town of Mashpee gave the applicant a number of locations that were photographed of specific addresses and historical features around the site where the pole was either visible or not visible. Every photograph taken was provided to the Attorney and a photo simulation was rendered. During the Cape Cod Commission process, certain requests were made on the design. One request was that a rendering of a mono pine or big tree be seen esthetically at the location. A second request depicted a rendering of the pole as light blue or as light grey. The applicant would accept the preference made by the Town of Mashpee. The Cape Cod Commission wanted tests taken at 150 ft. and 125 ft. to see if this had any impact on the visibility of the tower. They concluded there was no impact on the visibility of the tower. Mr.Dan Brown,the RF Engineer on behalf of Verizon Wireless,and Rick Karinki, the RF Engineer on behalf of T-Mobile both presented site plots depicting the current situation of the gap areas in south Mashpee without the cell tower, and the significant improvement in the coverage areas when the cell tower is up and running. The Verizon plots depicted the installed equipment at 146 ft.,and showed what the coverage would look like at 121 ft. which represents a 25 ft. reduction in coverage. T-Mobile provided plots depicting increased coverage of the equipment on the tower at 135 ft. Chairman Furbush commented that one or two plots had a significant coverage gap close to the area along the water in Popponesset. The engineers said that these gap areas have hills specifically located along Rock Landing Road. There were other road tests performed in the south Mashpee area depicting issues with the topography. 3