Commissioners OK Dare Cell Tower

By Kimberly Lenz Thursday, April 15, 2010

The price of improved cell phone coverage is paid always by the landscape.

That’s been the challenge for improving cell coverage on the Dare peninsula in York County, an area of explosive growth over the past 20 years. Cell towers have been proposed, but residents have resoundingly rejected them because the improved reception wasn’t worth the spoiled view. Planning commissioners and county supervisors have followed the residents’ lead, refusing to allow two previous requests to erect towers there.

The situation changed Wednesday night, when one cell provider company’s plans gained approval of the county’s planning commission.

“I’m not sure what they call a sequel to a sequel,” said Gloria Freye, an attorney representing nTelos. “That’s what we have here.”

The company first tried to get approval for a cell tower on Railway Road in 2008, then again on property owned by Crossroads Church in 2009. Both were rejected, with capacity crowds attending public hearings to urge commissioners to vote against them.

This time around, Freye explained, nTelos sought every possible option for siting the tower, a “slick stick”-style monopole, with no external antenna array. Two dozen property owners were contacted about leasing property for the tower, with one who agreed.

That property on Dare Road is nearly five acres, she said, and will provide ample buffer to most residents. At the request of a neighbor who would have the most unobstructed view of the tower, Freye said the company agreed to reduce the height from 194 to 179 feet and install additional evergreen landscaping.

Two other cell providers, AT&T and T-Mobile, have committed to using the tower to improve coverage.

Previous proposals, commissioner Nick Barba noted, would not have resulted in a dramatically improved coverage. Freye told him that by finding the Dare Road property the tower would be more centrally located and consequently “able to 100 percent fully meet” coverage objectives.

Two residents spoke against the proposal. One said the county had no obligation to help nTelos gain a “competitive advantage” and suggested space was available on towers at Dare Elementary School and Peninsula Hardwood Mulch. A report by nTelos claims those towers are too far west to accomplish the desired coverage.

Another resident expressed concern over “unanswered questions about health safety” of cell towers, and worried that property values would go down if the tower were built.

Freye presented commissioners with a petition signed by 65 residents who supported the latest proposal.

Commissioner Anne Conner summed up the sentiment of the group when she said, “I am somewhat apprehensive because we were told twice before, ‘This is the best possible location; we have got to have this site’.” But the plan looked to be the best use of the land, Conner said, and would meet the county’s objectives as well as provide service to the Dare community.

The proposal passed unanimously, with commission vice-chair Chris Abel recusing himself from the vote, since his law firm does some work for nTelos, and commissioner Al Ptasznik absent.

Next stop for the proposal is the county board of supervisors, who will likely hear the proposal at their May 18 meeting.

To read the county’s planning staff report on the proposed tower, along with photos of the site, click here.