Hospice House Cell Tower, New Busch Ride Up for Public Hearings

By Matt Poms Tuesday, June 08, 2010

James City County Supervisors will hold public hearings on several high-profile issues at their June 8 meeting. Up for debate is a contentious plan to place a cell-phone tower on land owned by Hospice House, as well as a proposal for a new ride at Busch Gardens.

The meeting will take place at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Building F board room at the James City County Government Complex on Mounts Bay Road.

Hospice House, on Powhatan Parkway, is seeking permission to place a “slick pole” cell tower on its James City County property. The plan would supply the organization — a nonprofit that offers end-of-life care for the terminally ill free of charge — with $40,000 a year in revenue, half of the group’s $80,000 annual operating budget.

But the James City County Planning Commission voted 6-0 to deny the application at a meeting in December, citing concerns that the 124-foot tall structure was too visible to the surrounding area.

Residents of the neighboring Powhatan Secondary development spoke out against the plan at the December meeting, producing a petition signed by 200 residents to deny the proposal.

Planning Commission Chairman Rich Krapf told WYDaily in December that the tower would rise too far above the treeline and would be visible to about 10 percent of the Powhatan Secondary neighborhood.

“The towers should be compatible with the character of the area and have a minimal impact on the residents and the scenic area,” he said.

But Hospice House Executive Director Linda Taylor argued that the non-profit badly needed the money supplied by the tower to offset a loss of funding from a slow economy. The organization had received a letter from the county cutting its public funding, which it had received for 25 years, before getting that money restored upon adoption of the county budget in May.

“The way the economy has gone, we could use the income,” Taylor told WYDaily in December. “The $40,000, that’s huge to us now that the county and localities are decreasing funding … businesses and individuals are more cautious [with donations].”

Taylor also said that she was confident that nTelos, the wireless carrier that would manage the tower, would do an adequate job beautifying the structure.

“It will be well kept,” she said. “We were impressed with what they’d do to protect [the landscaped area] … they would add plantings and buffers.”

Another cell tower application to be placed on Camp Road has the full support of staff and the planning commission; the board will hear public testimony on that tonight, too.

The Camp Road tower would be located on the same parcel of land as an active farm, but wouldn’t interfere with the business, according to the staff report. The tower also wouldn’t be very visible from any public rights-of-way, though some adjacent property owners will be able to see it.

Also on the agenda is a public hearing for a proposal by Busch Gardens to construct a new ride in the Oktoberfest section of the theme park. It would involve a tower measuring 260 feet in height; structures above 60 feet must be approved by the county.

The tower would limit lighting above 60 feet in elevation, and would stand 50 feet higher than the recently constructed Griffon roller coaster. The new ride would likely bring riders to the top of the structure, before dropping them to the ground at high speeds.

County staff recommended the approval of the ride citing minimal visual and auditory impact on the surrounding area.