A potentially precedent-setting variance request has been withdrawn, in effect taking the monkey off the Fayetteville Planning Commission's back.

Heath Turner has written to chief planner Jahnee Prince, saying that a professional satellite installer has managed to find a suitable place for his miniature satellite dish without running afoul of city ordinances.

Turner had installed the dish in the bushes that surround his mailbox, bringing protest from city officials because the mailbox is in the city right-of-way. But he couldn't comply with city laws that say the dish must be in the side or rear of his Parkside Drive house, Turner told the Planning Commission during a recent work session. Trees in his and neighbors' yards block the signal from a satellite orbiting over Texas, he said.

Commissioners had worried that the request might set a precedent, since federal laws that protect satellite owners' right to a signal would override any local ordinance.

But members of the panel also wondered whether the dish could be mounted on the roof or the side of the house so that it could be aimed over the trees.

"We cannot prohibit you from receiving a signal," said commission chairman Bill Talley during a work session. "But we need testimony from some experts showing that you can't get reception somewhere other than in the front yard," he said.

Turner presented instructions for the satellite dish, showing that it must be pointed toward open sky and must be aimed southwest at a given angle, but commissioners suggested that he should get something more substantial.

Meanwhile, commissioners said they're sure this won't be the last request of this type.

"We're going to see this again and again," said one commissioner.

Turner asked that his request be tabled until the commission's January meeting, to give him time to answer those questions.