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HomeMy WebLinkAbout20250224SupplementalReport_2-Ithaca-Verizon-111WiedmaierCourtWilliam P. Johnson RF Engineering Consultant PO Box 20263 Rochester, NY 14602 February 24, 2025 Town of Ithaca Zoning Board of Appeals Attn: Marty Mosley Town of Ithaca 215 N. Tioga Street Ithaca, NY 14850 RE: Proposed Wireless Telecommunications Services Facility - RF Site Review for Verizon Wireless / “Sunny View” Site 111 Wiedmaier Court (Tax Parcel No. 56-4-1.22) Proposed 134’ New Monopole Tower plus 4’ Lightning Rod (138’ overall) Dear Mr. Mosley, The 2/10/2025 supplemental submission by Verizon Wireless (Applicant) is in response to the ZBA request for analysis of the proposed “Sunny View” facility for a hypothetically shorter tower. Applicant’s new Exhibit OO includes a series of RF propagation plots that compare area mid-band RF coverage for eight (8) locations that Applicant deems important. The analysis is for a set of reduced antenna center lines (ACLs) of 130’, 110’, 90’ and 70’. Verizon’s RF engineer cited eight (8) specific areas where coverage drops below threshold and provides objective area characteristics (e.g. count of residences, gathering places, etc.) and Average Annual Daily Traffic (AADT) to argue why they are deemed important for gap remediation. We find no reason to disagree with Applicant’s engineering analysis. Background and Discussion Applicant previously submitted Exhibit H (May 31, 2024) that shows similar information, without explicit analysis of the eight (8) locations for reduced ACL heights of 130’, 120’ and 110’. Exhibit H also includes neighbor site LTE capacity information “Ithaca HD” and “Brooktondale” sites that currently serve the proposed “Sunny View” target area. The LTE capacity metrics show these sites exceed their the Forward Data Volume (FDV) bandwidth capacity at times. Exhibit H propagation plots also shows that there is no significant mid- band coverage in the area near the proposed “Sunny View” site that could relieve low-band FDV from the existing sites. Note that both RF coverage issues and base station capacity Town of Ithaca Zoning Board of Appeals, February 24, 2025 Page 2 of 2 exhaustion will affect voice calls. The analysis of voice call performance in the targeted improvement area was presented by Applicant in the recent submission Exhibit OO and previously in Exhibits Z and AA (8/7/2024). Those exhibits show dropped calls and call access failures on the roadways near and within the target improvement area. Town Code uses only voice calls as the valid measure of a significant gap in coverage. Our previous reports discussed the low-band coverage and service issues for the target improvement area. In summary, low-band represents about 10% and mid-band represents about 90% of Applicant’s licensed bandwidth. In order to relieve the low-band capacity issues at neighboring sites, the proposed site’s RF coverage must overlap the existing low- band RF coverage with a stronger signal to draw traffic to the proposed site. Reduction in proposed height will cause a commensurate reduction in RF coverage overlap. Reduction of overlap results in less traffic off load from the “Ithaca HD” and “Brooktondale” sites. Applicant does not currently have a way to quantify how much traffic off load will occur until the proposed site it on the air other than by comparison of the coverage footprints. Exhibit OO shows the mid-band RF coverage from the proposed site is reduced for lower ACLs for the eight (8) focus areas. Each focus area is shown by a satellite image to help characterize the area and a narrative that explains the nature of the focus area. Applicant correctly argues that reduction of RF coverage below their reliability threshold at lower ACL will cause continued dropped call and call access failure gaps in those areas. In order to quantify the gaps that form at lower ACL, Applicant presents vehicle traffic volume, structure counts, and location uses to support their contention that the proposed ACL is necessary to avoid on-going gaps in those areas. We find no engineering reason to disagree with Applicant’s RF engineering coverage and base station capacity arguments in Exhibit OO. Very truly yours, William P. Johnson RF Engineering Consultant to the Town of Ithaca Planning Board