News

photo by Alex Kraus

Tower opponent David Bowden believes that simulations and balloon tests for the 150-foot cell phone tower are inconsistent with each other.

At the public hearing Pegasus had argued that a taller tower would allow other cellular companies to use the same tower for service. The Board sided with Pegasus, and approved a special exception for a 150-foot tower to be built off of Sycamore Drive in Kerr’s Creek. However, neighbors were less than supportive.

Opponents of the tower have been persistent in voicing their concern. They question the validity of Pegasus Tower’s application for a special exception. A county ordinance which requires the applicant to consider all possible locations within a three-mile radius of the proposed site has sparked criticism from several neighbors. David Bowden, who lives a half-mile away from the proposed site, said that Pegasus has not considered alternate locations.

Sherri Holland, whose parents live next to the proposed site, voiced the same complaint. “I took that ball and ran with it- I found three other locations,” she said. Holland’s first choice was the Kerr’s Creek Volunteer Fire House; however, Pegasus abandoned the site when shovel tests produced Native American artifacts.

H. David Natkin, attorney for Pegasus, said, “Our charge is to look at the application that’s in front of us--not to go knocking on doors.”

Natkin also pointed out that the county may waive requirements of the application if it thinks it is in the citizens’ interest.

County Planning Director Sam Crickenberger presented opposition to the tower in the form of maps and numbers rather than words. Crickenberger took the names from petitions supporting and opposing the tower and plotted their locations on a map of the county. The map shows that more than a third of those opposing the tower live within a three-mile radius. Only about a tenth of supporters live in the same area.

“What we were trying to show was that the people who opposed this live closer to the tower,” he said.

photo simulation courtesy of Pegasus Tower Company

A simulated view of the 150-foot tower from Sycamore Valley Drive in Kerr's Creek

On Feb. 8, the Planning Commission made a recommendation to shorten the tower to 125 feet and to add trees to hide the base. The exception still requires Pegasus to put up an eight-foot board fence, a double line of cedar trees, and a fence to protect the cedars from cattle.

“With 150 feet, we assure you that we can provide for six carriers,” said Harold Timmons, zoning manager for Pegasus Tower. “With every provider we can accommodate, that’s one less tower that this county has to approve.” His reassurances seemed to hardly assuage neighbors’ fears.

Supervisor Hotinger, who has a rental agreement with the proposed site’s owner, abstained from voting, but not before handing over an already-typed copy of the resolution to be read and approved by the remaining supervisors. The board voted 4-0 in favor of the tower.

Holland said that she was disappointed by the lack of response from the board to unhappy citizens. “As a human being, I think there was rudeness displayed by the board and their lack of manners in how they behaved toward the persons who voted to put them in that chair,” she said.

“I think that a supervisor is voted into that chair and that that position should receive respect. But you also have to give respect to get respect and I don’t think that’s what this board did in those circumstances.”