Tower Moves Forward After Judge’s Decision

A 122-foot transmission tower will move forward in the Edgemere-Sackville neighborhood of Savannah, Georgia, after a judge overturned the city’s attempts to block the structure. On January 20, Judge B. Avant Edenfield of the U.S. District Court ruled in favor of Vantage Tower Group after the city denied the company a height variance for the tower. Judge Edenfield found that this denial violated the federal Telecommunications Act. In October 2013, the Metropolitan Planning Commission denied the request for the tower, and when Vantage Tower Group appealed the decision to the City Council, the decision was reversed. While the City Council reversed the decision, they voted down the three variances required to build the structure and limited the height to 85-feet. The company appealed the decision to the Chatham County Superior Court, and on January 20, the court remanded the request for the variance back to the city with instructions to comply with the Telecommunications Act.