FARMINGTON -- The city of Farmington has issued a stop order on a new 150-foot monopole cell tower already installed behind Farmington Church of Christ on Main Street.
Smith Communications has been working on the tower for more than a month but city officials did not know about it until the pole was already up and could be seen in the Farmington skyline from Main Street.
Rick Bramall, city building official, told Smith Communications about his concerns in a June 18 email to Kayla Kramer, the company's site development manager.
"We are very concerned about the monopole at 29 W. Main in Farmington being built without the required special inspections being performed and without inspections from the Farmington building inspector," Bramall said. "There is no way anyone can verify the requirements set forth in the structural plans now that the concrete has been placed. The location of the monopole is in such a place that if the foundation fails it could cause catastrophic damage to property and people."
In the email, Bramall ordered the company to remove the monopole and demolish the existing foundation.
Friday, Bramall said a meeting will be set up with Farmington officials and representatives with Smith Communications about the concerns. Farmington officials who will attend the meeting, Bramall said, will be himself, the mayor, city attorney, city business manager and the city's engineer with Olsson Associates.
The company has said it plans to use a third-party engineering firm that can provide an ultrasonic inspection to show the foundation footings were built as required, Bramall said.
"We'll see if they can prove to us that it's OK to leave and we'll see where it stands," Bramall said.
Like other city officials, Bramall did not know the company had constructed the cell tower until someone mentioned it to him at a City Council meeting. He said he should have been called in for inspections, mainly dealing with the foundation for the tower and any electrical work.
Melissa McCarville, city business manager, said the city is "not going to continue down this road unless an engineer stamps approval on what's been built. We're not going to assume responsibility."
Kramer on Friday said third party inspections were taking place during construction and photos were taken during the work. All this information has been forwarded to the tower manufacturer and an engineer to be verified.
She could not explain why the company did not request the city to make inspections during construction as required.
"We'll figure that out and work through it," Kramer said.
The cell tower is the first monopole installed in Farmington under the city's new telecommunications ordinance, adopted at the April 2018 council meeting.
Farmington Planning Commission approved a permit for Smith Communications for the new, 150-foot cell tower at its August 2018 meeting. The cell tower plans show it is 165 feet away from the nearest residence. The tower has a white, stealth flagpole design with five separate canisters for internal, concealed antennas to accommodate multiple carriers.
Verison Wireless will occupy two canisters as the anchor tenant and the remaining canisters will be available for additional carriers or for Verizon to expand.
Jeff Henretty, construction foreman on site with Smith Radio, said the tower will always look like a continuous, white pole.
He said the tower has a 40x40-foot base that is surrounded by a fence. The company will plant trees on the outside of the fence. Smith Communications is leasing the space from Farmington Church of Christ, 29 W. Main St.
The city's amended cell tower ordinance requires towers to be approved as conditional-use permits by the planning commission. An applicant is required to provide a map of the area, a letter of intent from at least one wireless communication carrier, a site plan, existing land use, access roads and surface material, fencing, parking and signage.
The minimum distance from the base of any tower to a residential dwelling must be the height of the tower plus 10 percent or the setback requirement for the zone. This distance is considered the safety zone for the tower.
New towers are limited to monopole or other stealth/camouflaged-type tower structures with a maximum of 150 feet.
The city also has a new ordinance for small, wireless facilities. This ordinance requires an applicant for a small facility to submit a request for a conditional-use permit from the planning commission.
General News on 07/03/2019