Planning Commission continues Community Baptist Church wireless facility hearing to Sept. 11

The county's Planning Commission will hear the proposal for a wireless communication facility at Community Baptist Church of Fallbrook on Sept. 11.

The hearing for the Verizon facility, which would mount 12 panel antennas and a four-foot microwave antenna inside a 35-foot tower to be constructed on the church grounds, was scheduled for July 17. Notice of the Planning Commission hearing was provided only to residents within the required notification area and not to residents outside the notification area who had asked to be included, so the six Planning Commission members present all voted for a continuance.

Accretive Investments' 1,746-home Lilac Hills Ranch project is docketed for the Aug. 7 Planning Commission meeting and is expected to generate significant public testimony, so the Planning Commission chose the September meeting for the new Community Baptist Church date.

The tower would be between two existing detached church structures. Although the tower would be detached from the actual church in the 700 block of South Stage Coach Lane, it would appear to be an extension of the church. The 289 square foot tower would also house the equipment necessary for the facility while a 30 kilowatt emergency generator would be inside a concrete masonry enclosure with a chain-link roof approximately 93 feet from the property line.

The application also calls for 220 feet of trenching for an electrical connection between the generator enclosure and the tower and an additional 160 feet of trenching for electrical and telephone service from the tower to an existing power pole at the northern boundary of the property.

On April 20, the Fallbrook Community Planning Group voted 9-3 to recommend conditional approval of the facility; those conditions are part of the application.