My town (in Vermont) has 40 feet as the local hight restriction and accept an
other 12 feet "sticking up" above present structure. The zoning board was not
against me putting up an 85 foot tower but required a hearing as I needed a
variance. My problem was the neighbor that didn't want "the horizon of nature
be disturbed by technology. Due to an administrative mess-up the hearing got
delayed for a year. When I finally got my permit it was autumn and I had to
wait for the spring to get my tower up. I missed the peak of the solar spot
cycle. Well, more will come.
ARRL was able get me in touch with an attorney that help me for free. He was
very helpful. There are also several court cases available on line. The
favorite is a case from Florida where the judge ordered the town to pay for the
ham's legal fee (~$18.000). I had that case with a few other in my application
to "soften up" the zoning board. It is always good to indicate that they may up
getting additional expenses if they decide to "fight". Most towns don't like
extra expenses.
A fun note: My neighbor tried to stop the permit by claiming I was going to use
it "to eavesdrop on telephone conversations" as my son had demonstrated for
them how he was able to listen to a phone conversation "from northern Vermont"
which is about 130 miles from our house located on the southern tip of Vermont.
They also highlighted the possibility of "radioactive radiation" from the
tower. Don't you love these people?
Hans - N2JFS
-----Original Message-----
From: Ed Sawyer <sawyered@earthlink.net>
To: towertalk <towertalk@contesting.com>
Sent: Tue, Feb 7, 2017 1:31 am
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Advice on tower restrictions possible new install
K6OK stated -
"Wouldn't you want the opposite? If a county has a blanket height
restriction on all types of structures, and that height limit is
lower than my planned towers, then I would avoid that county
unless it had a ham tower exemption. If a county has cell phone
tower regulations (which are common), I would avoid that county
unless they exempt ham towers from those rules.
But if you can't change counties, having these restrictions is not
necessarily a deal-killer. You might have to apply for a use permit
or a variance, requiring more time, money and anguish.
Unfortunately there's no guarantee they will approve your application."
I am not a lawyer certainly. K1VR and the ARRL support services are a good
way to get proper advice. That
Being said, you never want to ask for a "variance" against a law that
doesn't apply to you. You want to state
That your request is not restricted by the current regulations. Its NOT a
commercial permit for a tower, its
A personal use auxiliary structure. So any clerk telling you otherwise
should not prevent you from doing what you
Want to do.
Its also a protected use under Federal Pre-emption - PRB-1. The fact that
the state or county/city/town has not
Enacted language in their law to accommodate the pre-emption, should not
dissuade you from exercising your federally granted rights.
I think the question is to decide what the response is after sizing up the
situation. Has the state enacted PRB1 language? If so, what does it say
about your plans and what are you up against. Do the local regulations
mention the case of personal antenna supports or not.
Certain local groups are up for a fight and certain ones don't want a legal
battle especially if no neighbor is complaining. Here in rural Vermont -
they were "thankful" for the guidance and glad to hear they weren't going to
be 200 ft tall.
Note that none of the above deals with HOAs which is a horse of a different
color.
Ed N1UR
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