TT:
War stories notwithstanding, I think it's safe to say that we will
never improve the
regulations or their imposition, if we don't play within the system.
With that, one illustrative war story:
In Vermont, for the first 5 years or so, I just put the tower up and
never asked.
It was only 60', and attached to the house, and screened by large
trees such
that it wasn't an aesthetic issue. Nobody said a word. Possibly
they didn't
know it was there.
When I decided to go to 100', I elected to get a building permit.
In order to do
so, I needed to have the zoning board approve a variance, or special
use permit.
In the process, another local and I formed an RFI/EMI mediation
consulting group,
to assist the town with existing or future neighbor/amateur/
commercial interference
issues. (we had one difficult case) In addition, I worked with the
zoning code official
on ordinance language which eased restrictions on amateur towers to
70', providing
they weren't also used for commercial purposes.
They ammended the ordinance and granted me a variance for 100' at the
same
meeting.
Two neighbors showed up at the hearing. One spoke in favor of me
being able to
do anything I wanted on my land because I was a good neighbor. The
other sat
quietly and didn't say anything, because their cows had gotten out
and trampled my
garden the day before. Who knew that cows liked tomatoes and hastas?
A month later, in the backwash of a hurricane, an oak tree fell
across a guyset and
took the 100 footer down. There was around $5k damage. If I
hadn't had a building
permit, my homeowners insurance wouldn't have covered it.
Not ONLY would I not have been covered for the asset value, but if
anyone were hurt,
neither my homeowners nor my umbrella coverage would have protected me.
Erecting illegal structures which cause harm ISN'T covered in most
insurance contracts.
There endeth the epistle.
N2EA
Jim Jarvis, MBA
President-Executive Coach
The Morse Group, LLC
732 548 5573 office
908 410 9130 cell
People-Process-Strategy
Achieving Results in a Changing World
www.themorsegroup.biz
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