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Township's hands tied over proposed tower
(by Joseph Koziol Jr. - September 24, 2008)
Township's hands tied over proposed tower
By JOSEPH KOZIOL JR.
Munson Township Trustees said they expect to hear from at least one property owner opposed to the construction of a telecommunications tower in a residential area.
Trustee Andrew Bushman said he has heard from a property owner who is likely to call on trustees to enforce township zoning regulations on the towers.
But how far the township can go in regulating the towers is open to question.
Township Zoning Inspector Timothy Kearns said the tower has been proposed for the rear of the property at Munson Valley Nursery, 9904 Mayfield Road (Route 322). Although the property lies within a residential district, he said, the nursery has been designated an agricultural use.
Mr. Kearns said representatives of Verizon had contacted him earlier this year, saying they were looking to locate a tower between Chester Township, in the vicinity of Sunnybrook Nursery, and Ravenna Road (Route 44) in Munson.
He said the Munson Valley Nursery property seems to be one of the better locations, because it drops off to the rear, making the proposed 290-foot lattice tower impossible to see from the road.
Mr. Kearns said he was advised by the Geauga County Prosecutor's Office that the township's zoning code is virtually toothless in attempting to regulate such towers. The towers have been deemed public utilities, and the company cannot be unreasonably denied the ability to construct them, he said.
The last time the township was able to stop a telecommunications tower from going up was in the Fowlers Mill area, where several buildings were placed on the National Register of Historic Places. In that case, the tower was dismantled and removed after the historical significance of the area was emphasized.
Mr. Bushman said several protections that the township once put in place for regulation of the towers were pre-empted by the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996.
Mr. Bushman said the township attempted to control where the towers could be located, designating only the township's industrial areas as appropriate. However, the federal act struck down the township's ability to restrict them as to location, he said.
In addition, he said, the township wanted to limit the tower heights to 200 feet, but that restriction was struck down by the federal act. The type of tower was also a focus of the legislation, he said. The township wanted to have monopole construction as the exclusive type used, but that was another casualty of the federal act, he said.
He said trustees received a preliminary design of the proposed tower and accompanying buildings just before Labor Day, so they are still familiarizing themselves with the plans.
Mr. Bushman said there are some restrictions that still may be applied to the site, such as setbacks or ensuring that mud is not brought out onto roadways.
Mr. Bushman said he was not sure what happens if the company states it cannot meet the regulations as set up. "That's a gray area," he said. "They'll probably take it to the FCC (Federal Communications Commission)."
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