Ok, this one is a different job than the previous post. We're doing an elevation certificate on a cell tower monopole and just the area of the monopole. The monopole is located in an equipment compound, roughly 30'x30', which also has a raised equipment platform with a few small cabinets for electronic equipment. Other than the pole and the platform there is nothing else on site. There is no building on the site. I'm assuming the monopole would be the "bldg' but just wanted to see if anyone else has done one of these and how did you classify everything? Thanks again for the help.....
Logically, the insurer would want to know the elevation at which a flood would cause damage they would have to pay for.
I'd try to find an interpretation of the rules that got that elevation as the answer.
The owner might also want to know the flood elevation at which it stops working, and that might not be exactly the level at which permanent damage occurs if there is some wiring lower than the equipment cabinet.
I have had clients in the past request an elevation certificates for towers, when what they actually NEEDED was a FAA A1 certification.
Typically towers are on top of hills, far away from flood risk.
Idiots putting electronics in a flood plain
A dozen years ago we received a call to lay out a small boundary area plus topo for a fiber optic "pumping" station. Forget exactly what they labeled it but it was needed to boost the signals.
Never gave elevation a thought until we are driving up (down) to the site. My immediate thought was, "This is seriously in the flood plain." We went ahead with our preliminary boundary work, but at the first chance I got my hands on the appropriate flood map. Oh, yea, this baby is going to be roughly eight to nine feet below flood and it's all electronic gear. So, I call my client three states away and ask if anyone has actually viewed the planned site. No, they had merely calculated where it should be relative to the location of the next site and contacted the property owner. No discussion had ever occurred relative to flood plain issues. The client told me to just keep on doing what they had hired me to do while they reconsidered. We kicked that project into high gear. About two days after mailing the paperwork and invoice we got a call saying they had decided to abandon that site. They found another site about one-half mile away that was 20 feet higher and definitely not in the flood plain. Then we had the pleasure of doing that survey.
