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<br />City of Arden Hills <br />City Council Meeting for January 25, 2016 <br />P:\Planning\Planning Cases\2015\PC 15-025 - AT&T Wireless Antenna CUP Amendment - 3900 Bethel Drive\Memos_Reports_15-025 <br />Page 2 of 5 <br />The applicant has provided a project narrative explaining the upgrade and the need for this work <br />(Attachment B). The complete plan set for the upgrade project is included in Attachment D and <br />photographs showing existing and proposed conditions are included in Attachment E. <br /> <br /> <br />Discussion <br /> <br />A full evaluation of the proposal was presented to the Planning Commission at their regular <br />meeting on January 6, 2016. The staff report to the Planning Commission is included in <br />Attachment G. The proposed upgrade project meets the height, location, and screening <br />requirements included in Section 1325.09 of the Zoning Code, which regulates antennas, dish <br />antennas, and towers in the City. <br /> <br />During its review, the Planning Commission encouraged the applicant to provide additional <br />information for the City Council meeting on how the upgrade would improve wireless coverage <br />and capacity. FDH Velocitel has informed staff that the principal purpose of the project is to <br />increase capacity, not expand coverage, and that the following specific items would be <br />addressed: <br /> <br />• Increase bandwidth for consumers and emergency services <br />• Reduce interference from neighboring sites <br />• Increase call capacity and reduce block calls during high consumer volumes <br />• Improve speed of data usage to transmit and receive <br />• Increase capacity to process data <br /> <br />FDH Velocitel has also provided propagation maps that show how the proposed upgrade would <br />improve capacity and coverage (Attachment F). The improved service would benefit all AT&T <br />customers in this area of the City, including Bethel University. <br /> <br /> <br />Conditional Use Permit Review <br /> <br />Section 1355.04 Subd 3 of the Arden Hills Zoning Code lists the criteria for evaluating a <br />Conditional Use Permit. The City Council should consider the effect of the proposed use upon <br />the health, safety, convenience and general welfare of the owners and occupants of the <br />surrounding land, in particular, and the community as a whole, in general, including but not <br />limited to the following factors: <br /> <br />1. Existing and anticipated traffic and parking conditions; <br />2. Noise, glare, odors, vibration, smoke, dust, air pollution, heat, liquid or solid waste, and <br />other nuisance characteristics; <br />3. Drainage; <br />4. Population density;