[TowerTalk] Town Code Definition Conundrum

[K7LXC at aol.com]

In a message dated 4/16/04 6:30:13 PM Pacific Daylight Time, 
msadams at acsu.buffalo.edu writes:

> Got home and started digging in.  Well, I think that this was written for 
>  only commercial users.  In the definition section, it reads that a 
>  "TELECOMMUNICATIONS FACILITY" is:
>  
>  "Towers and/or antennas and accessory structures, together used in 
>  connection with the provisions of cellular telephone service, personal 
>  communications service, digital and /or data communications service, 
paging 
>  service, radio and television broadcast services and similar broadcast 
>  services."
>  
>  They define personal communications service as PCS in the preceding 
>  paragraph. She highlighted radio in the last part of the definition, but 
>  clearly amateurs do not broadcast.
>  
>  So while I wait for the town attorney to call me on Monday, I sent her a 
>  lengthy reply noting these observations. Have any of you run into this?  
By 
>  my account, this town DOES NOT REGULATE AMATEUR TOWERS BY ZONING LAWS 

    You're right.

    First, the person you're talking to has probably never seen an amateur 
radio tower application before.

    Second, you talk to 3 different people in the building department and you 
typically get 3 different interpretations. Find someone who seems reasonable 
and stick with them and educate them along the way. 

    Last if you need additional horsepower, subscribe to the ham-law 
reflector to post your question and if things start getting sticky with the building 
department, get an ARRL Volunteer Counsel involved. The above definition shows 
pretty clearly that hams aren't covered so you might not have to go that far. 

Cheers,
Steve     K7LXC
TOWER TECH -
Professional tower services for commercial and amateur
888-833-3104