J

A proposed Faulk and Foster Tower by Verizon on Noah Road hit a snag at the June 27 County Planning Commission over what some counties dub “fall-zone requirements” that restrict how closely it can be built to a property line.

The tower’s site plan called for the 250-foot tower to be located within 200 feet of the land owner, Kenneth Roberts’ property line.

Coffee County zoning ordinance specifically avoids the term “fall radius,” requiring instead that any tower have a setbacks in all directions of at least its height.

A letter submitted to the commission on behalf of Verizon indicates that in all likelihood were the tower to fail, it would break in to and fall closer.

“He saying that it is likely … to break apart and that it won’t fall the distance of the height,” said Planning Chairman Steve Cunningham. “It’s just very hypothetical … there’s no guarantee in that.”

Planning Secretary, Commissioner Dennis Hunt clarified that how far the tower could fall was irrelevant.

“I make a motion that we disapprove this because it does not meet setback requirements. The word fall radius is not in our language, so we don’t need to be using that (term),” Hunt said, noting that those setbacks protect adjacent properties.

“The fall radius can be the full height of the tower. In the event of domestic terrorism, they will start attacking our infrastructure as soon as they can,” he said.

“I can take a 36-inch pipe wrench and have the 250-foot tower on the ground in 30 minutes. A guide tower I can do it in two minutes with a zaw-zaw,” he said.

Verizon representative Victoria Farmer said that her engineers did not have time to rectify on the plans the county engineer’s punch list items by the time of the meeting.

“I felt like their might be some additional request made at the meeting, and I would rather wait until then to put the comments into the drawings … so that way we’re not changing the drawings then changing them again,” she said.

Cunningham said that the application should have been withdrawn before the meeting, and an application resubmitted that met the county engineer’s requirements.

“What we try to do is get things before this committee that we can vote on and pass. Your mistake was not getting everything lined up before coming before this committee,” he said.

Farmer said a building permit cannot be obtained until the FAA gives final approval, which is expected in late July.

She said the back property line is the only one that does not meet the setback requirements by 50 feet.

Farmer said that shortening the tower to meet the setback requirement would likely be more feasible than moving the location.

The commission unanimously voted to disapprove the site plan. The matter will come before the committee again in August.  Hunt said that the commission would have approved the plan had the requirements been met.