By DAVE HAMRICK
dhamrick@thecitizennews.com

If communications tower companies can't meet Fayette's restrictions and still provide adequate coverage in Fayette County, they can apply for a variance.

County commissioners last week approved changes to the county's ordinance governing the towers that will allow variances, but decided not to reduce the required distance between towers or the required distance between towers and nearby homes.

The county's governing body also approved new wording in the ordinance that will allow companies to replace existing towers with bigger ones, and increased the width of the established highway corridors — within which the restrictions are less burdensome — from 500 feet to 1,000 feet.

But outside those corridors, towers must still be two miles apart instead of being reduced to 1.5 miles as recommended by the county Planning and Zoning Commission, and towers must still be at least 1,000 feet away from the nearest residence. The Planning Commission had recommended reducing that distance to 750 feet.

Tower companies had requested the changes, saying there is nowhere in Fayette County that new towers can be built under the current ordinance, except where they're not needed.

Representatives of the industry warned that companies may have to file suit in order to meet their federal mandate of providing cell phone coverage throughout the nation.

Members of the County Commission said allowing variances should be adequate for true hardship situations. Requests for variance go before the county Zoning Board of Appeals.