P&Z sends north-end cell tower support signal

For supporters of a north-end cellular tower, the recommendation of a setback reduction is a step forward.
The Longboat Key Planning & Zoning Board voted at its Oct. 18 meeting to recommend an ordinance for an Outline Development Plan for a proposed 150-foot stealth tower at Longboat Island Chapel. The ordinance includes two departures: One that reduces the required setback from 300 feet (twice the height of the tower) to 117 feet and a second that would extend the time in which a special exception would expire for a personal-wireless service facility to be located on the property at 6200 Gulf of Mexico Drive to 24 months. The board added language to the ordinance allowing for a tower height of up to 150 feet.

Kevin Barile, president of the Tampa-based Ridan Industries II, who has worked for nearly four years with Longboat Key resident and Alpha-Omega Communications Inc. owner Jim Eatrides to bring a cell tower to the north end of Longboat Key, was pleased with the outcome.

“It’s the first of many hurdles,” Barile said after the meeting. “But it started in the right direction.”

The board was scheduled to consider an application for a special-exception use of the chapel property and a site-plan amendment at its Oct. 18 meeting but moved forward only with discussion of the ODP after attorney Charlie Bailey, on behalf of Grand Mariner owners Ralph and Sheri Trine, who have expressed concern that the construction of the cell tower would interfere with sales of many of the condominium’s 14 units, filed an appeal Monday afternoon related to whether the latter two applications were complete.

Eatrides and Barile, along with attorneys, town staff, residents, board members, engineers and other interested parties sounded off for more than six hours at the hearing.

Town staff recommended approving the ordinance for an ODP but suggested that the tower be no higher than 120 feet. The recommendation was based on a study by engineer Enzo Dalmazzo, who found that the island could achieve 100% cellular coverage with a 120-foot tower. But at Tuesday’s hearings, Dalmazzo clarified his remarks, stating that the figure was based on in-vehicle coverage. He estimated that a 120-foot tower would bring in-building coverage of 70%, while a 150-foot tower would bring 90% in-building coverage.

Before public testimony began — more than three hours and 45 minutes into the hearing — P&Z Board Chairwoman B.J. Webb reminded those speaking that the purpose of the hearing was to address the ODP.

“There are some aspects of this that can be quite emotional to you,” she said.

Bailey presented letters from potential buyers at Grand Mariner, who wrote that they would postpone closing on units indefinitely without assurance that a cell tower wouldn’t come to the site, along with a letter from Reid Murphy, the sales agent for the project, who estimated that the tower could cause the project’s units to decline by 20% in value.

Former Mayor Jeremy Whatmough spoke against the proposed tower, arguing that it was unnecessary, unattractive and will soon be antiquated.

“Cell towers are going the way of the 78 RPM records,” he said. “And I remember the days when the record companies were saying, ‘You’ll never do away with the 78 RPM records.’”

Linda Gartner and her husband, Don, who are the first residents of Grand Mariner and are currently renting the unit, described admiring the view of the chapel’s cross from her unit.

“The Bible tells me to love my neighbor,” she said. “When it says to love my neighbor, it says I don’t discriminate against my neighbor.”

Resident Mike Hodges agreed that the cell tower could influence real-estate values — but not in the way that earlier speakers suggested.

“This is an infrastructure and a safety problem,” he said of current cellular service. “I think mine (real-estate value) is negatively influenced by not having cell service.”

Lenny Landau, who spoke as a representative at the Public Interest Committee, said that PIC supports the proposed tower.

“Wireless today is an expectation,” he said. “It’s the price of admission to being a world-class destination where people go to live and visit and work.”

Former Mayor George Spoll, who is chairman of the Longboat Key Revitalization Task Force, said that one of the group’s key priorities is to improve cellular service.

“Our future are the young people who are coming here and investing for the future,” he said. “That whole community lives and dies by their cell-phone communications.”

Before taking a vote, board members wondered why they were bothering to vote with two parts of the application stayed by an appeal.

But Eatrides and Barile wanted to proceed. Town Attorney David Persson told the board that they could approve or deny the recommendation but that “saying something is better than saying nothing” in the event that the board is challenged.

The board finally voted 8-1 to approve the recommendation, which will likely head to the Longboat Key Town Commission in December.

Open house
A Code Enforcement officer and police officer went to an open house at the Grand Mariner that was scheduled for the same time as a community meeting held by Jim Eatrides and Kevin Barile to discuss their plans for a north-end cell tower. According to a police report, the Code Enforcement officer noticed that there were people entering the building but didn’t think that a certificate of occupancy has been issued. Police later returned and spoke to Reid Murphy, sales agent for the Grand Mariner, who said that seven certificates of occupancy had been issued and that he had tried numerous times to contact Code Enforcement officials for sign permits but was unsuccessful. The report states that Murphy asked police if they were “shutting him down.”

“I stated, ‘no,’” the officer’s report states.

Police said there was no way to determine if a violation occurred and left.