Commission approves AT&T front-yard cable yard with added landscape buffering

The Planning Commission approved a special land use and site plan review on Sept. 26 to allow AT&T to install a front-yard cable yard and outdoor storage of equipment and reels at 3530 Eastern Ave SE, with a clear condition that landscape buffer requirements be met or supplemented where the yard adjoins the public right-of-way.

Staff described the property as a roughly 10-acre site in the SDIT Industrial Transportation zone with existing fleet parking, training facilities and previous outdoor storage. Applicant representatives said the relocation followed wind damage at a prior lease site and that the cable yard would include gravel surfacing, drainage, and storage of large 5- to 6-foot cable reels moved by forklifts.

Commission discussion emphasized screening and planting maturity. Don Dugger, the project architect, said the proposal adds pines and junipers along Eastern and 36th Street to provide screening, and staff confirmed the chain-link fence installed administratively will remain. Commissioners asked for more robust and possibly more mature plantings in key frontage areas to reduce visibility into the yard, particularly along Eastern Avenue.

The commissions motion approved eXp US Services Inc./AT&T's outdoor storage request and included a condition that landscape buffer requirements in section 5.11.12 supplement the applicants landscape plan where natural screening is absent; staff will ensure the final planting plans and time-of-planting standards comply with the ordinance. The motion passed by voice vote.