Proposed cell tower
law flops
By TRAVIS PURSER
Express Staff Writer
"Cumbersome," "vague" and
"contrary to Idaho law" were some of the words used to describe
a 33-page proposed ordinance aimed at wireless communications towers in
Blaine county.
The ordinance would establish standards for the location
and design of the facilities, known more popularly as cell towers.
The county planning and zoning commission would like to
mitigate the visual impact and potential safety hazards (from falling ice
and falling equipment) that the sometimes more than 200-foot-tall
structures could create.
With changing technology, providers of cell-phone,
wireless Internet and other wireless services have available an increasing
array of equipment that can be installed almost invisibly on existing
buildings, utility poles, church steeples and even trees in developed
areas. Most older technology currently in use requires high towers or
mountaintop installations spread miles apart.
Members of the P&Z are working under the pressure of a
deadline to draft and complete a new ordinance with the help of Kreines
and Kreines, a Marin County, Calif.-based consulting firm that has worked
with communities across the country on similar issues.
The P&Z is trying to implement the new rules before an
emergency 120-day moratorium on building the towers expires. The county
board of commissioners voted unanimously to approve the moratorium Monday,
the same day a previous moratorium ended.
During a public hearing Thursday night, the tension ran
high among the P&Z, members of the public and Ted Kreines as he
presented the proposed wireless ordinance at the old Blaine County
courthouse in Hailey.
After agreeing to pay $20,000 plus expenses for Kreines
and Kreines to review Blaine County’s cell tower situation and advise
planners here on what can be done to ensure that the highly visible
structures don’t mar the area’s famous scenic views, the P&Z had
expected to get a smaller, simpler draft ordinance more in line with other
existing ordinances. The city of Hailey has agreed to pay Kreines and
Kreines another $19,000 for similar work.
The P&Z wanted a checklist of standards by which to
review future applications for the towers, but Kreines instead offered
them a "discretionary approach" that he said would help the
county avoid legal challenges by "prohibiting nothing."
That idea was a major flop with the P&Z.
Normally, during the review of any application by a
developer to begin a project, chairperson Suzanne Orb said, "we’re
trying to build a body of fact that will defend us in the courtroom. I don’t
see that happening with what you’ve put before us."
Orb called the draft a "very cursory instrument"
and a "starting point."
Commissioner Tom Bowman questioned whether future
applicants who want to build wireless facilities would be able to
reasonably predict from reading the ordinance whether their proposals
would be approved.
Public comment on the draft came almost entirely from
people in the wireless industry.
Rod Kagan, who builds communications towers for a living,
said using the newer, less visible technology is a good idea for urban
areas. But, he said, the technology won’t work in the Wood River Valley
because too few people live here. Also, we don’t have street lights, one
of the most common places to mount the newer equipment, he said.
John Campbell, of the Idaho Tower Company, said, "The
ordinance makes it almost impossible to put up a tower." Towers are
the most "popular" way to provide wireless services, he told the
commission. One tall tower loaded with equipment every four miles along
Highway 75 would be better than having dozens of small facilities
scattered throughout neighborhoods, he said.
After reviewing everything late Thursday night,
commissioner Bowman suggested, "Has anyone considered that we might
not need an ordinance?" Why not let the industry create a master plan
for a limited number of towers, and then hold them to it?
The next public hearing to consider the issue is scheduled
for March 8.
"This ordinance will change dramatically by
then," commissioner Orb said.
