Minutes_February 20, 2019 - Laserfiche WebLink

Mr. Williams stated this had been a mistake and a problem with the way Verizon managed and set up the account. Verizon has since removed all throttling of any public safety or first responders. Commissioner Balch said it was interesting that Mr. Williams is at a public forum giving public testimony when he just asked that public notice be removed because it might increase subjectivity in the approval process. Mr. Williams said they are looking for a straight-line process that outlines all of the information required and are trying to ensure they do not have a situation where they meet the objective design to standards written by the City and then have a subjective process interjected into it. If a commenter suggests developing a new standard, this could complicate the case. Commissioner Brown stated Mr. Williams made a comment about the size of the equipment and he asked what the average size of the typical antenna was in volume. Mr. Williams said they keep their small wireless under three cubic feet and keep it within that standard volume. They are using a quasi -omni antenna or a canister antenna which has three panels within it and looks like one unit. Commissioner Brown stated Mr. May stated they were proposing sizing to a 750 -foot radius and he asked what the RF engineering was doing in terms of cell size today. Mr. Williams said he was not sure, but their engineer could address this. He said 750 feet for a 4G cell is not unreasonable based on what he has seen, but for a 5G he was not sure if the propagation would work because of the frequencies they would be using. Commissioner Brown said there was some comment regarding concealment of antennas, the propagation and the canister arrangement on the top. He asked Mr. Williams to expand more about the concern regarding concealment, assuming the City is not suggesting any use of materials that would make it not potentially infeasible. He asked if it was just that he wanted "to the extent feasible" added to the language. Mr. Williams said for 4G the concern around concealment was that it counts as part of the three cubic feet. If they were also counting the concealment, he questioned whether they could get both or whether they would end up with bare antennas so as not to count against the three cubic feet. For 5G, the antenna and radio are one unit so they would not have an antenna at the top for 5G. The problem being they have tried fiber bond or fiberglass and transparent materials, and it will not propagate through correctly. By demanding concealment or stealthing over that device, it would be prohibitive and it's not technically feasible. Commissioner Brown asked and confirmed that the sample picture of the canister earlier was a 4G. Mr. Williams said he did not see any examples of 5G, but they do have examples and can share this with the Commission of different deployments they have done in Cupertino, San Francisco, Sacramento and Palo Alto. Planning Commission Minutes Page 6 of 12 February 20, 2019