[TowerTalk] Opinions on Tower permission issue....

[Stan Griffiths]

Hi Gerry,

Sounds to me like you are having a nightmare.  There are a couple of possibilities you did not put
on your list:

1.  Move to another town or out of the historic district of the town you are in.

2.  Take up stamp collecting instead . . .

You may think these are not serious suggestions, but let me assure you, they are.

I used to live in southern NH myself (Derry) and when my wife and I were shopping for a house to
buy, the FIRST thing we did was ask the realator to check the town ordinances for restrictive tower
ordinances.  If they found some, we did not want to look at ANY property in that town, and we did
exactly that.

It is a little late for you to do that now, but not if you would consider moving again.  This may
well be the best way out for you, even now.

Suppose you actually take legal action and win.  Do you think you can really live peacefully with
your neighbor?  I seriously doubt it.  I really don't see how you can win here, even if you win
legally.  The deck is stacked against you.

It's not like I haven't been there before.  I have been a ham for 45 years, moved 15 times, and
lived in the following cities:

1.   Lake Oswego, OR
2.   Santa Ana, CA
3.   Orange, CA
4.  Panorama City, CA
5.  Canoga Park, CA
6.  Sherwood, OR
7.  Merrimack, NH
8.  Derry, NH
9.  Aloha, OR (where I have lived for the last 25 years with three 100 foot towers)

So I have lived on both coasts and in a lot of cities.  I had antennas in most of those locations,
but not to the exent that I have now.  In Derry, for example, I only had two 100 foot towers.

NOTHING TAKES THE PLACE OF PLANNING FOR THIS BEFORE YOU BUY YOUR HOUSE.   It sounds like in your
case, they changed the ordinances AFTER you got there and there isn't much you can do about that.
I put my towers up in 1973 and could NEVER put them up here today.

If I were comtemplating building a station with a tower now, I would definitely have to move to
another county or city.  In my opinion, you just have to sit down and have a very serious
discussion with your wife and decide how important having a tower is in your lives.  It may just
not be worth it . . .  You can always go back to guest operating.

Stan  w7ni@teleport.com

Gerry Hull wrote:

> Hello fellow TowerTalkian's...
>
> After 20 years of guest-operating in contests, finally picked up 100' of Rohn 25
> and am living on 5.5 acres in Southern NH. So... now I want to put up my tower,
> and finally do some operating from home.
>
> I live in a very small town (pop. < 600), in the center of town in the "historic"
> district.  Recently, our town passed a tower ordinance which prohibits towers of
> any kind in the "historic" district.  A couple of years ago the New Hampshire house
> ratified PRB-1, and therefore, as I understand it,  I CAN essentially put the tower up.
>
> About 1.5 acres of my 5.5 are woods.  Was planning to put 80 or 90 ft up in
> the woods, with only the top 15-20 feet sticking out of the trees.  The tower would
> fall no where near my house or neighbors.  I also have to please the XYL!
>
> Another fly in the ointment is that the head of the planning board is
> my next door neighbor.
>
> So, here are the possibilities:
>
> 1> Put the tower up without contacting the town.  Let them come to me and complain.
>    Present NH house stuff and other documents if they do.  I presume I'll need a lawyer
>    if they give me a cease and desist order.  This plan scares the XYL.
> 2> Prepare documents (PRB-1, NH House info, Rohn specs.) and present to the planning board. See
>    what they say.  This plan scares me.
>
> Am I going to need a lawyer?  I'm not prepared for a $10,000 legal battle.  Or, am I worried
> over nothing?
>
> 73,
>
> -Gerry, W1VE/VE1RM
>         ex: AK4L, VE1CER
> Greenfield, NH
>
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