Whispering Pines (North Carolina) is known for lack of cell phone coverage, but that could be changing, thanks to a vote by the village council to raise the maximum height allowed for wireless communication facilities to 120 feet, reported The Pilot.
“Personally, I think it’s ludicrous that we don’t have a cell tower,” said resident Glenn Bernhard. “I understand that we want to keep Whispering Pines nice and all that stuff, but families are paying $30 a month just to have a landline.
It shouldn’t be that you have to have a landline to have communication. That’s wrong.”
According to Linda Christopher, the village clerk, and zoning administrator, the current ordinance regarding tower height is laughable. “Cell tower companies laugh when I tell them our maximum height is 80 feet,” she said. “That would be a total waste of money because the signal wouldn’t even get out of the pine trees.”
Residents who spoke during the public hearing on the proposed amendment were overwhelmingly in favor. In addition, Mayor Pro Tem Bob Zschoche commented, “Our first responders really need it.”
Whispering Pines does not have a formal request to install a cell tower on the table and towers are still only allowed under a special use permit, so the village council will review any requests on a case-by-case basis, reported The Pilot. Additionally, according to Christopher, the village also requires camouflage technology so any proposal would have to include a monopine design.
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January 14, 2019
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