Wednesday, June 27, 2001
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Wednesday, June 27, 2001 |
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Commission ponders a request for a higher tower By DAVE
HAMRICK
Fayette County commissioners Thursday will decide whether adding ten feet to the height of an existing communications tower is better than building a new tower. The county Planning Commission thinks so. The group recommended that the County Commission approve SprintCom Inc.'s request to increase the height of a tower on Morgan Road from 180 feet to 190 feet to accommodate the company's cell phone tower and improve its service to the area. The 127-acre site of the tower is near the county's eastern border, near McDonough Road. The land is owned by Mary Kartos and the existing tower is owned and managed by Crown Castle Inc. SprintCom had earlier asked for approval of a new tower on the Flintwood Farms on McDonough Road, but commissioners turned down the firm's request for an exception to the rules. The site was barely more than a half mile away from the Morgan Road site, and county law requires a two-mile separation between towers. "The [Morgan Road] site is in a heavily wooded site and is isolated. That reduces the intrusiveness of the site to the surrounding area," said lawyer Jim Ney, representing SprintCom. Planning Commission member Jim Graw questioned why the firm needs to increase the height of the tower, when there's room for an additional antenna now. But that antenna would have to be placed at 160 feet high, and that wouldn't help SprintCom customers get much better reception than they're getting now, Ney said. "We'll have the same series of complaints that we're getting now," he said. If the tower is made taller, SprintCom's antenna would be at 190 feet, and that would solve most of the problems, he said. The company also will reduce the height of a lightning rod on top of the tower from 15 feet to nine feet, to keep the tower below the 200-foot height at which a blinking light would be required, Ney said. That will avoid a light that might disturb anyone living nearby, he said. "This clearly aims in the direction we have hoped for in the county," said former Planning Commission Chairman Fred Bowen, commending the company on its solution to the problem. The county's laws governing communications towers call for as many antennae on each tower as possible, to reduce the total number of towers in the county. The group voted unanimously to recommend the zoning change to allow the taller tower. County commissioners will meet Thursday at 7 p.m. at the County Administrative Complex. Among other items on the agenda: The Board of Education and Starr's Mill High School athletic boosters will ask for funds to help erect lights at the Starr's Mill baseball fields. Organizers of the annual Wings Over Dixie air show also will ask for funding aid. Commissioners will consider relocating the Georgia State Highway Patrol drivers license examiner's office, Children at Risk, and the Fayette Factor from the current office space at the County Administrative Complex to the McElroy House on McDonough Road. The relocation project would include funding remodeling the house in the amount of $43,900. Office space for the county coroner also would be included in the project. Coroner C.J. Mowell, who has been conducting his duties from his funeral home, recently told commissioners he needs an office because the state is requiring him to install a computer and file his reports by e-mail.
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