[TowerTalk] (no subject)

[David Branson KC0LL]

My tower construction problems was not deed restrictions, but the fact I was too close to the property line and the tower could fall on my neighbor's yard. So maybe I had an easer case. Below is an page from my web site that explains what I did, incase anyone is board and wants to read it.

The following is from my web page, you can see the tower at    WWW.KC0LL.NET  



Why am I building a NEW tower you may ask??

Good question. This was my old guyed tower (1984 - 2004) It was 57 feet high with a 23 foot antenna and it's top was 80 feet.
20 years ago I had been given a permit for my original 55 foot Rohn 25G tower. It required a lawyer and a little work even back then, but it was granted. Now, 20 years later I wanted to change one antenna on the top and replace the guy wires to make it stronger and safer. I wanted to make sure I was legal before doing all the work, I went to the County to check (First big mistake). They were a real pain in the butt because (as you can see) I am only 27 feet from my property line. I was told "any time you lower a * fold-over * tower you will need a new permit to raise it back up!" I could not believe what I was hearing. I asked [the main guy] "Are you telling me you would rather I kept the old tower as is, instead of lowering it, putting on stronger guy wires and putting it back up in a SAFER condition?" I was told one word, "Yes".

I think we can start to see the problem, they seem to dislike towers, and the people who own them.  :(

This is what started the QUEST. Had they just said "yes" to me repairing my old tower, there would not be a huge 7 foot wide tower on my block!

On the next trip down town I was told [point blank] by the County Building Permit Office, "For Amateur (Ham) antennas and towers, the very tip of your top antenna (not tower) can not cross your closest property line if it were to fall". For this reason I was first told I couldn't build any tower with an antenna top more that 27 feet to the top, no mater what. [They look at towers and antennas as all one "antenna", the top is the top. Later when push came to shove and I hadn't taken "NO" for an answer they added "UNLESS YOU BUILD AN  **ENGINEERED**TOWER." 

This was the clue I needed. They didn't volunteer that last information in the beginning. After a little talk, I was told if I engineered the entire tower, soil loading and base (with all the engineering stamps and inspections), I could build a tower "under 100 feet". I became obvious that basically they could not stop me even with the property line only 27 feet away, but they could make it very costly. They never thought I would spend the $1,000's to do it. I went back the next day and requested a permit for 99 feet, 11.90 inches, keeping it well below the 100 feet   :)




David F. Branson 

Senior Technician
Action Communications, Inc. 
Tucson, AZ 
520.792.0326
520.792.2709 fax
KC0LL at hotmail.com
http://www.kc0ll.net
http://www.ActionCommunications.com