I don't know why the a/c was done like that but I have seen it done on other houses around my area. One advantage is that grass does not grow up and block the cooling fins. I would guess it might be less expensive than a concrete slab.
That tree does block the view of the dishes from the road and the front yard, but we live on a dead end street and there is only one house past us. They are the only ones who can see the dishes and only as they drive past. My wife said I could put whatever I want on that side of the house.
I started out with the big dish to watch 3ABN when it was on C-band analog. Then we got the lifetime subscription to Sky Angel for the same reason. So that freed up the big dish for PBS on c-band analog. My son loves PBS. Well PBS switched there analog feed and the signal was terrible. So I noticed that the big dish could do KU. That led to swinging the big dish to AMC3 for PBS digital. It was around that time I found this forum. I started looking for a Primestar dish and found it for free less than a mile away. So that is how I ended up with it on G10R.
Oh, I have been installing the one meter dishes for friends to be able to watch 3ABN an have probably done 20 to 30 of them. That is how I ended up with the dish on AMC4. I needed to have one at home so when people called me up with problems I could tell if 3ABN had gone off the air with technical difficulties or the caller was having problems with their equipment.
I'm glad I had the AMC4 dish because of 3ABN having been kicked off of Sky Angel.