Week of 3/20/02
   
 
 
Jackson plans public hearing on cell tower rules
By Don Hendershot
The public hearing will be at 5 p.m. March 25 in Boardroom 203 of the Jackson County Justice and Administration Building at 401 Grindstaff Cove Road in Sylva. The public hearing will be followed by a special meeting of the Jackson County Board of Commissioners at the same location at 7 p.m., where commissioners will consider whether or not to vote on the ordinance.

They’re sprouting all over Western NorthCarolina and the rest of the counry — large, unsightly metal poles. They’re cell towers, and the problem is that the towers — and the accompanying phones — have become almost as American as baseball and apple pie, and just as popular.

A Sprint PCS spokesman noted that in 1996 there were 24,800 towers across the U.S. By 1999, the number had nearly tripled to 74,000.

Local governments across the country have found themselves faced with the same dilemma — how to balance citizen and industry needs for cell phones with aesthetic and environmental concerns. This burden falls on local governments, and Western North Carolina is no exception. Jackson County will hold a public hearing on Monday, March 25, to take public comments on a proposed ordinance regulating cell towers.

In June 2001, Dan Duckham of Cashiers pleaded with commissioners to halt a proposed cell tower on Laurel Knob in southern Jackson County. Although the plea didn’t fall on deaf ears, by the time a moratorium on telecommunication facilities was enacted in August 2001, SBA Towers of Florida had erected the 250-foot tower at Laurel Knob and another, shorter tower along U.S. 74.

The moratorium and a subsequent extension have been in place while the Jackson County Planning Board worked to create a telecommunications ordinance. At the board’s March 7 regular meeting, Planning Board Chairman Jack Debnam gave commissioners a draft of the planning board’s proposal.

“At this time, I feel we have an ordinance we should adopt,” said Debnam.

The planning board has been working with Monroe Telecommunication, Jeff Willett of North Carolina’s Division of Community Assistance, county attorney Raymond Large and others to draft an ordinance.

According to Rusty Monroe of Monroe Telecommunication, the ordinance is framed from a basic model and then customized to fit Jackson County.

Industry representatives have also reviewed the draft and offered input. Attorney Gary Pennington, representing Crown Castle International, a company that owns more than 13,000 wireless communication sites worldwide, provided commissioners with a list of 23 issues concerning the draft ordinance.

Monroe said he feels the 23-page document is a good ordinance that could withstand any legal challenge. He said his company had assisted over 300 communities across 14 states develop ordinances and “no portion of any ordinance has ever been overturned.”

The ordinance lists seven specific purposes including: facilitate the provision of wireless telecommunications services to residents, businesses and visitors to Jackson County; regulate in an orderly and considered manner the placement, construction, modification, maintenance and removal of wireless telecommunication facilities; establish a fair process for review and approval of applications; preserve the scenic and visual character of Jackson County; require the use of existing and alternative structures before approving the construction of additional structures; discourage the disruption of mountain ridges and protect the health, safety and welfare of Jackson County.

Monroe said his company had been retained by the county to review and analyze applications in conjunction with Trigon Engineering and make recommendations to the county concerning the siting of wireless facilities.

The industry has attempted in recent years to do better regarding camouflage techniques (stealth towers) and co-locating service providers on the same tower. Towers can be made to look like pine trees, the hardware can be mounted on church steeples, on buildings and co-located on existing towers.

The Jackson County ordinance places a heavy emphasis on camouflage and stealth techniques. The ordinance states, “The definition of a well-placed Wireless Telecommunications Facility is one that does not draw attention and is virtually invisible to most viewers.”

Duckham can relate. He says the worst thing about the tower on Laurel Knob is “you can’t avoid it.”

Because the Laurel Knob tower is more than 200-feet high, it is required by the Federal Aviation Administration to be lighted. Duckham said the tower has a strobe light and multiple red lights on it.

“I can’t even go to the bathroom at night and return to the bedroom without seeing the tower,” Duckham said. Duckham said he will be at the public hearing and that he is holding out hope that the ordinance will eventually provide some relief.

The ordinance may do that. One section reads, “After the initial five-year permit period, Wireless Telecommunication facilities existing at the time this ordinance was adopted shall be brought into full compliance with the terms of the Ordinance.”

In two places in section 303, “Location and Site Selection Standards for the Placement of Wireless Telecommunication Facilities,” the document states that total cell tower height shall not exceed 150 feet unless located on electric transmission towers. If the height limit is applied to the SBA tower at Laurel Knob, Duckham feels he would get some relief after five years by virtue of the fact the tower would no longer require lighting.

Regulation is the only tool local governments have to address the cell tower issue. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 guarantees service providers the right to provide wireless telecommunication services where there is a demand. Today’s culture guarantees a demand.

Local governments like Jackson County are faced with the dilemma of meeting that demand while also addressing the demands of those who want the scenic beauty and integrity of the area protected, not only for aesthetic reasons but also for socioe-conomic reasons.