The Anderson, IN Board of Zoning Appeals has denied Horvath Towers’ request for a special use permit to construct a 179-foot tower at the Flagship Enterprise Center. According to a report from The Herald Bulletin, detractors included the Corporation for Economic Development, the Flagship Enterprise Center’s owner, and a local developer, who all expressed concern about the proposed tower’s impact on future development in the city.
Attorney Russell Brown, who represents Horvath Towers, told The Herald Bulletin that Verizon planned to use the new tower to bolster cellular and data service in the area, which has lacked sufficient service since 2004. “This is public infrastructure,” Brown said. “The need exists in the city.”
Horvath Towers attempted to find a middle ground with the citizens of Anderson, according to Deputy Director of the Anderson Municipal Development Department Tim Stires. He told The Herald Bulletin that the company reduced the tower’s proposed height from 199 to 179 feet and added plans for landscaping around the tower’s base to minimize its aesthetic impact.
Despite these concessions, Stires said that erecting the tower at the Flagship Enterprise Center would be a “slap in the face” to companies who have invested in the Center.
Stires and Rob Sparks, executive director of the Corporation for Economic Development, have encouraged Horvath Towers to consider alternate sites, according to The Herald Bulletin. Such sites include the Anderson Memorial Park Cemetery and a wooded area 300 feet to the north of the Center, which would obstruct views of the tower but would also potentially obstruct its signal. Still, business owners and developers are digging in their heels. “We can’t relocate our building,” local developer Ron Foster said. “They have options for the tower location.”
March 14, 2018
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