Cell towers will once again be on the agenda when Jackson County commissioners meet on Aug. 2.
Commissioners have been wrestling with this issue since June 21 when a group of Cashiers area residents appeared before the board to protest the construction of a tower at Laurel Knob.

Since that meeting, there has been a July 9 public hearing, a July 19 joint work session with the county planning board to discuss drafting a cell tower ordinance for the county, and a July 24 special meeting to review a moratorium ordinance.

During this time period SBA, Towers Inc. of Florida completed the tower at Laurel Knob and erected another one along U.S. 74 in eastern Jackson County.

The two cell tower issues discussed at the July 19 work session were the crafting of a county wide ordinance and enactment of a moratorium. Commissioners expressed concern about striking a balance.

“We need to be friendly with our cell towers ... businesses need them. On the other hand, we need some restrictions on height, location and camouflage,” said commissioner Conrad Burrell.

Commissioner Roberta Crawford expressed concern over the length of any moratorium.

“I just don’t want the county to come to a complete stop,” Crawford said, indicating she would not vote for a moratorium in excess of 90 days.

County Board Chairman Jay Denton worried about a “hastily crafted” ordinance. He asked the planning board if it would be possible to come up with a well thought out resolution in 90 days. Planning Board Chairman Jack Debnam said the board would try for 90 days.

“We can extend the moratorium if we need to. It would let industry and the public know we were trying,” Debnam said.

According to Planning Director Tamera Crisp, commissioners received a cell tower proposal last year. She said, however, that “there are many new (planning board) members since the planning board visited this issue.”

Debnam said he would like to see the new board “brought up to speed.” He said he would like to see the board produce a lasting ordinance for Jackson County.

Also present at the July 19 meeting was Gary Pennington, an attorney representing Crown Castle International, a major independent wireless communications company with more than 13,000 broadcast and wireless communications sites around the world. Pennigton said Crown Castle would request that any moratorium not exceed 90 days. He told commissioners that a longer moratorium could be detrimental to businesses because of FCC licensing regulations.

Commissioners asked the planning board to begin work on a cell tower ordinance for the county and asked County Attorney Raymond Large to craft a 90-day moratorium for the July 24 special meeting.
Although the three commissioners present at the July 24 special meeting  Denton, Roberta Crawford and Franz Whitmire — voted in favor of the moratorium, no ordinance could be enacted because two commissioners were absent. Enactment of an ordinance upon its first reading requires a unanimous vote by the full board of commissioners.

The ordinance, which will be voted on again at the Aug. 2 regular meeting, allows for reconstruction of existing towers, co-location on existing towers, variances for “extreme hardship,” non-commercial individual uses such as ham radio and television antennas, and construction by governmental agencies.
Large told commissioners that any extension of the 90-day moratorium would require another vote.

 

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