[TowerTalk] Re:USTOWER/FIRST CALL COMM

[Joel]

D. Rodman, MD wrote:

> Steve, you have a potentially complicated situation.  Your town has a very
> restrictive ordinance against towers.  In my experience, you may have a 20
> feet above the roof line ATTACHED TO THE STRUCTURE limit.  If you are not
> sure, check it out right now.  Variances are very difficult to obtain.
> Every town has different regulations.  You will, at least, have to get
> permission from every neighbor in certain close proximity.  It might be a
> few houses or it might be a radius distance.  You will probably run into a
> scenario where speaking to everyone first is necessary.  Going from house
> to house is a bit embarassing.  Be sure NOT to point out what you are
> doing is legal, a potential eyesore and might interfere with every
> "home entertainment device" in a 500 ft radius.  You might be surprised
> with the immediate "nice" "friendly" responses from you potential new
> happy neighbors at first.  However, when the town meeting comes up you
> might be surprised by the negative or just plain unsupportive things that
> could be said.  If your town is like mine, JUST ONE MINOR NEGATIVE COMMENT
> will sink you.  The thing you have to know, is these people on your town
> board are likely on the take.  In my town, a certain lawyer takes just
> about all the variance cases.  The fee is $5K.  That is for one meeting.
> Yes, you get your permit for your sign or whatever, but at what cost?  Not
> one person on this reflector will tell you that 40 ft is a decent height
> for working DX.  Yes, it might work really well, if all you want to do is
> ragchew on 20 to your cousin in St. Louie or work Europeans or South
> America on 10 or 15.  It is a low height to really enjoy things and have a
> super good time at it.  It does not give you much advantage in the
> "pileups" or much height to put up a decent low band dipole.  Now on to
> you plans to get a higher tower and use it at 40 ft until the variance
> comes through.  BAD IDEA.  The town will not like this.  They might NOT
> issue you a building permit.  That is necessary because it goes into
> concrete.  Every footing needs a building permit.  The argument will be,
> you can raise it when nobody is looking and not be in compliance with the
> ordinance.  So what, right?  Wrong.  How would you like it if the
> neighbors second unlicensed car magically appeared with a license plate
> every time you called and complained about the piece of junk sitting on
> your property line?  They will say, you can't apply for the permit unless
> you own the property.  If you do, fine.  If you have not closed, they will
> not even talk to you.  You can go down there a million times, but I bet
> you they will not give you anything in writing until you actually own the
> house.  Get everything in print too.  On the other negative side of this
> plan, you have to get a engineering stamp from a NY state licensed
> Professional Engineer.  He will have to review and RECALCULATE the tower
> plan from US Tower.  In order to certify the structure, he just won't take
> the certification from a California stamp.  His license is on the line if
> it falls and kills your neighbor's cat.  Unless you are luck to know a PE
> or your brother-in-law is one who will look the other way, you will find
> this will run about a thousand dollars for the plans.  There will be many
> questions about the antenna and the issue of "ice".  When was the last
> time you had 3 inches of radial ice on anything in Fishkill with 50 mph
> winds?  You know your tower is built like a brick, but the Uniform
> Building Code treats it differently.  Engineers love to be anal retentives
> about small details, you know.  Now, lets say you have gotten frustrated
> now and decided to consult the ARRL about this.  They are our saviour,
> right?  Wrong.  Yes, they know about PRB-1 and Federal interests and the
> like, but there NO absolute cases that will get you a 55 or higher foot
> antenna with a 40 foot restriction.  There certainly HAVE been cases where
> lower height restrictions have been overturned in NY by lengthy court
> cases and expensive litigation.  The hams have individually bore the costs
> of this and in my experience, since case law is not necessarily
> transferable, the next guy might have to do it too.  That is very
> expensive.  It might run you $5-10K without a hint of any outside
> financial help to do this.  I would ask you, Steve, to be very cautious
> about your expectations and limitations before getting into this project.
> I am very familiar with it, because I ran into similar roadblocks.
> Finally, I got so frustrated by the whole situation, I purchased a country
> property and moved the bulk of my serious operating there.  I have found
> that the residential restrictions of height and electrical noise and
> consumer electronic "interference" were not worth the hassle.  Be
> carefull, the town is not your friend on this project.  Good luck!!
>
> David J. Rodman, MD
> Assistant Clinical Professor
> Department of Ophthalmology
> State University of New York at Buffalo
>
> FAX 716-859-4565
> Office 716-854-1137
>
> e-mail: rodman@acsu.buffalo.edu
>
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