[TowerTalk] Sacramento CA ?

[Jim Venneman]

Hi Jim,

I live in Placer County, about 40 miles east of Sacramento, in the foothills of the Sierras. Just recently obtained a building permit for a 55' crank-up tower from the county. Discovered that a tower less than 45' tall does not require a permit. Towers > 45' require wet-stamped engineering drawings calced for a 70 mph wind-speed, using UBC97 specs and Exposure B criteria. There are no zoning requirements in the county regulating height for an "amateur radio" tower. I had to bring e-mail proof with me from the head of the Planning Dept to convince the gentleman at the counter of this fact. The building permit cost $115. Having said all that - most newer housing developments in the county have CC&Rs regulating antennas. I live in an older neighborhood with no restrictions of any kind (grin).

Good luck with your move,

Jim  -WX6V-  
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Jim Lux<mailto:jimlux at earthlink.net> 
  To: jimjarvis at ieee.org<mailto:jimjarvis at ieee.org> ; Towertalk<mailto:towertalk at contesting.com> 
  Sent: Monday, July 26, 2004 12:16 PM
  Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Sacramento CA ? 


  At 11:10 PM 7/22/2004 +0000, Jim Jarvis wrote:

  >OK, gang....
  >
  >I just booked a new gig, requiring that we move to
  >Sacramento County CA.   Anyone onboard who can comment
  >on the antenna/zoning issues in the 5 municipalities in
  >the county?
  >
  >How are things further toward Tahoe?  Other direction...
  >nearer SF?
  >
  >Just about to begin a regional housing search, and would like
  >to get my yagi up.  Last I heard, there were no trees in the
  >desert....so wires won't work.
  >
  >N2EA
  >
  >jimjarvis at ieee.org


  How far up towards Tahoe?  My in-laws live in Nevada County, which is by 
  and large quite rural and things are moderately unrestricted, but changing 
  rapidly, as people move to the foothills from the Bay Area.

   From a CC&R standpoint, the newer areas on the outskirts of Sacramento 
  might be worse than actually in the city, because the development activity 
  is newer and more regulated.

  Rick Karlquist has a very nice 7 element phased array on some acreage in 
  Galt, roughly half way between Sacramento and Stockton (which are 45 miles 
  apart).

  Sacramento is, as you are no doubt aware, on a huge flat floodplain 
  (flatter than Kansas) with a fairly high water table (and topsoil that 
  extends dozens of feet down).  You have to go 10-20 miles east to start 
  hitting the foothills, and probably 50 miles west to get into the coast 
  ranges.  You can go 100 miles north or south without changing elevation 
  more than 10-20 feet.

  If you are really unconstrained in your location, and you want to choose 
  for optimum radio, you might consider the San Joaquin delta area... pretty 
  darn close to the "antenna over a salt water marsh" kind of situation...

  However, I suspect that your choice of living areas may be more determined 
  by driving and commuting time.   Check into this very carefully.  The area 
  has expanded (population wise) a lot in the last 10 years, and the road 
  capacity has not kept up.



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