Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Alpharetta, GA- Commissioners approve 300-foot tower

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 15 Feb 2004 19:53:24 -0500

Alpharetta, GA- Commissioners approve 300-foot tower
By Nancy Smallwood

1/19/2004

By NANCY SMALLWOOD
[email-masked]

Forsyth County Board of Commissioners approved three tower location sites for
the new public safety communication system at their Jan. 12 meeting. Both
Commissioners Charles Laughinghouse and A.J. Pritchett voiced concerns over the
location for the south Forsyth tower. However, the board voted 4-1 to approve
the south tower’s location at Fire Station 10 on Old Atlanta Road with Pritchett
casting the dissenting vote.

During the discussion period of the towers, Pritchett said he had a possible
alternative site at the quarry for the tower but consultants from Motorola said
the fire station site for the tower would provide 95 percent coverage of the
county. In addition, the site at the quarry would not provide better coverage
and could require a taller tower, according to the engineer.  "The three
proposed sites cover as much of the county for the least amount of cost, the
sites are already county owned and because the county owns the property
construction can begin immediately,” said the Motorola representative.
Pritchett requested exact percentages for coverage of the county utilizing the
quarry site but the consultant was unable to provide them. A possible land
donation from the quarry to the county could be obtained for the site, said
Pritchett.  The quarry site location would add to the county’s cost of the tower
because of the possibility of  having to increase the height of the tower and
would most likely add a scheduling delay since the county would have to receive
FFA approval, according to the consultant. However Pritchett stated a scheduling
delay could have been avoided if the county staff and consultants would have
researched other sites when he requested it last year.  "Almost a year ago I
requested research on an alternative site for the south. I, on my own, had to
get a GSP unit and search other locations for a 1,180-foot elevation. The least
obtrusive is the rock quarry site,” said Pritchett.

South Forsyth resident Ernest Turner, who attended the meeting, said the fire
station site is in the middle of a residential area
and would impact several families.

"I am disappointed in the way it went. They did not allow more time to find out
the facts and properly study the issue,” said Turner.
Laughinghouse said three conditions led to his decision to vote for the tower
which were the added cost, added time and possible reduction of coverage.

"I will support the motion (to approve the proposed sites) because of
significant impact on those three conditions,” said Laughinghouse.

Sheriff Ted Paxton, 911 Center Director Miles Butler and Fire Chief Danny Bowman
all attended the meeting and spoke in
favor of the sites with the highest coverage for the county. Paxton said money
had already been expended for the system
and the new cars for his department would be equipped with radios for the
system. A delay of implementation would require
his department to purchase radios utilizing the old system, he said.

http://www.northfulton.com/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=%7B0DD24F68-DCF1-43B1-82D6-9D15E56152B3%7D

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