According to the Stanly News & Press, the Stanly County community has a series of five meetings planned to discuss future plans for cell tower development. Residents and government officials are all encouraged to propose ideas to gather as much input as possible. “If we can get one good new piece of information at every meeting,” said Stanly County commissioner Tommy Jordan,“That’s five new ideas. That would be awesome.”
The Stanly Planning Board distributed a pamphlet outlining the county’s current proposal for cell tower requirements. If adopted, it will establish setback limits of the tower’s height plus 25 percent. The source noted that area towers max out at 200 feet, establishing a setback of, at most, 250 feet. Additionally, new rules would place the concrete base of a tower at a minimum of 300 feet from an existing residence. Any tower above 100 feet would need to be capable of hosting three or more providers. Towers in the 60-to-100-foot range would have to be able to carry at least two cell carriers.
Officials have said the ultimate goal of the discussions is to clarify and streamline the introduction of cell towers. “There is no arguing about it. You can’t stop it,” said Jordan on the topic of cell tower development in Stanly, “We can’t stop it.” What the community can attempt to do is establish local rules that operate within the boundaries of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 but still allow for local preferences.
The pamphlet explained that coming up with an acceptable set of rules would minimize “costly public hearings and burdens on the Planning Board and Commissioners.” Clearly worded requirements would mean that the commissioners could avoid issuing a new rezoning requirement for each tower project. A certificate of zoning compliance issued by the county’s planning staff could then be issued after confirming that town ordinance parameters had been met.
Using the pamphlet as a discussion starting point, attendees brought up other suggestions and referenced cell tower approaches that have been tried in other locations. Ideas included wording to say that a residential site would have to be a last resort. At the conclusion of this first meeting, Commissioner Jordan stated, “I very much appreciate their research and input, because I would have never known about those particular creative ways to do the zoning.”
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