Bellevue and county join tower moratorium
Tower builder slips application in hours before vote
By PETER BOLTZ
Express Staff Writer
Blaine County and the city of Bellevue joined Hailey in declaring an
emergency moratorium on the construction of wireless communication facility towers.
But not before a company called Turner Enterprises applied for a broadcast
tower permit with the county.
According to the application, filed Monday at 1:37 p.m., Marcia Turner
applied for a conditional use permit for a 300-foot tower on Picabo Hill, south of Highway
20. Turner Enterprises gave a Las Vegas area phone number for the application.
Calls to the firm were not returned.
Attorney Jim Speck, representing Robert and Kathryn Gardner, told the
commission his clients own the property on which Turner Enterprises wants to build and
that Turner and another company that wants to build a communications tower have leases
with the Gardners.
According to Speck, the site already has facilities for Idaho Power, a
radio station and two cell phone companies.
He asked the commissioners to exempt Picabo Hill from the moratorium since
the property already had wireless communication facilities on it.
The commissioners were not swayed by Speck’s argument and passed the
moratorium Monday afternoon.
County prosecutor Doug Werth told the commissioners his office would have
to analyze the legal effect of the moratorium on the Turner Enterprises application.
The county’s ordinance "prohibits the siting and construction of
towers, sites and antennae, and other facilities necessary for the transmission and
reception of wireless communication signals…, and the filing of certain applications
for conditional use permit relating thereto."
The language in Bellevue’s ordinance "prohibits the receipt of
applications for and the approval of any application for wireless communication
facilities."
Bellevue unanimously adopted its moratorium ordinance on Thursday.
Hailey passed its moratorium last week.
