[Towertalk] Permits

[Al Crespo]

Prior to buying a hilltop residence, I contacted the planning department
of Orinda, California and was informed there was no regulations for
amateur radio towers. I insisted I wanted a building permit and a sign
off from the City that the tower was legal. I paid my messily $150.00,
received a permit to install a HDX 72 tower. It was installed and the
City signed off on the permit. As soon as I cranked it up, the
neighbours went nuts. They tried every trick in the book to revoke the
permit. They even tried to use an a clause in the City's ordinance's
that said if an official did an unlawful act ( issuing a permit for a
tower), then the consequences of that act was unlawful and void.
My tower was in the local newspaper and I was called the "rapist" of
Orinda because I had destroyed the landscape of the City.
I had to hired counsel and many  City council meetings later, the City
Attorney finally admitted to the mob and the City Council that the
permit could not be revoked. It was a very painful and time consuming
event in my life for me and my wife. If I had not had my permit, the
tower would have been history and they would have gone as far as charge
me with a criminal offence for violating the zoning ordinance.
With all that said, if you put something up without  a permit, you too
can be subject to the same misery I had. 
I now live in France. I got a permit for a 21 meter tower from my
village of 200 people. Most hams in France do not get permits for their
towers, but I learned my lesson and got mine. The cost of the permit was
peanuts and it will stay up forever.
73, Al, F5VHJ