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Keyser, W.Va. — By Richard Kerns
rkerns@newstribune.info
Tribune Staff Writer
KEYSER – Looking to take a pro-active approach to the possible siting of cell phone towers in the community, the Keyser City Council last week hosted a West Virginia engineering firm that specializes in drafting and administering local ordinances that closely regulate tower development.
Fox Engineering, a 75-person firm with offices in Ripley and Fairmont, gave a presentation on the firm's work at last week's Council meeting, appearing at the request of Mayor Randy Amtower. Amtower had met the firm's owner, Jennifer Fox, at a recent gathering of the West Virginia Municipal League, which has endorsed the cell-tower program offered by the firm.
Fox and a colleague briefed the Council on the growth of cell towers, which promise to increase three-fold in coming years as a result of 3-G and 4-G cell phone technology, which requires a smaller antenna service area to deliver proper signal strength.
While the federal government provides broad oversight of cell phone tower placement, regulation is largely left to county and municipal government.
“It's up to you to govern this growing industry,” Fox told the Council.
Differentiating between wireless providers and cell tower developers, she said cell phone companies focus on reaching higher-density population areas, and towers are erected to meet those needs. Keyser currently hosts one cell phone antenna – located atop its water tank on the campus of Potomac State College – but with the changes in technology and the town's concentrated population, that number is likely to grow.
Keyser currently lacks any ordinance outlining where towers should be located, so that in theory a resident could lease out his back yard to a tower company, and the city would be powerless to stop it.
Because federal law prohibits outright bans on cell phone towers, as well as land-use policies that seek to effectively “zone out” any towers, Fox said the city needs not only an ordinance, but expertise in administering the law. With applications that run 3 inches thick or more, city staff attempting to enforce the ordinance would likely be outmaneuvered by developers armed with lawyers and engineers intimately familiar with siting policies.
Under the plan outlined by Fox, the city would adopt a boilerplate ordinance used in about 2,000 communities nationwide – but tailored to Keyser's specific needs – and Fox staff would administer the law, overseeing the review process for any company that wants to site a tower in the community.
Fox would not be paid by the city, however, with its expenses included in an escrow application fee filed with the city. Such application fees, Fox said, can run as high as $20,000, but with companies leasing their towers for upwards of $100,000 per year per antenna, those expenses are easily absorbed by the developers.
Overall, Fox said, her company would provide a “rational, logical and orderly” approach to cell phone tower development in the city. Working with the city, Fox would aim to limit tower development by making maximum use of co-location – where one tower houses several antennas – and by making the towers as “invisible” as possible by minimizing the visual impact through camouflaging techniques. Fox would also work to ensure that towers are no taller than necessary.
The ordinance Fox proposed would also prohibit “spec” towers, in which a developer builds a tower on speculation, and then tries to attract cell phone companies to attach antennas to it. The ordinance outlined by Fox would require that any proposed cell towers have a contract with a wireless provider before the tower can be built.
The City Council took no action on the issue at last week's meeting, but city officials said they would give the proposal serious consideration. “The idea is to be proactive not reactive,” Amtower said. “I see this as an opportunity to protect our citizens as a whole.”
rkerns@newstribune.info
Tribune Staff Writer
KEYSER – Looking to take a pro-active approach to the possible siting of cell phone towers in the community, the Keyser City Council last week hosted a West Virginia engineering firm that specializes in drafting and administering local ordinances that closely regulate tower development.
Fox Engineering, a 75-person firm with offices in Ripley and Fairmont, gave a presentation on the firm's work at last week's Council meeting, appearing at the request of Mayor Randy Amtower. Amtower had met the firm's owner, Jennifer Fox, at a recent gathering of the West Virginia Municipal League, which has endorsed the cell-tower program offered by the firm.
Fox and a colleague briefed the Council on the growth of cell towers, which promise to increase three-fold in coming years as a result of 3-G and 4-G cell phone technology, which requires a smaller antenna service area to deliver proper signal strength.
While the federal government provides broad oversight of cell phone tower placement, regulation is largely left to county and municipal government.
“It's up to you to govern this growing industry,” Fox told the Council.
Differentiating between wireless providers and cell tower developers, she said cell phone companies focus on reaching higher-density population areas, and towers are erected to meet those needs. Keyser currently hosts one cell phone antenna – located atop its water tank on the campus of Potomac State College – but with the changes in technology and the town's concentrated population, that number is likely to grow.
Keyser currently lacks any ordinance outlining where towers should be located, so that in theory a resident could lease out his back yard to a tower company, and the city would be powerless to stop it.
Because federal law prohibits outright bans on cell phone towers, as well as land-use policies that seek to effectively “zone out” any towers, Fox said the city needs not only an ordinance, but expertise in administering the law. With applications that run 3 inches thick or more, city staff attempting to enforce the ordinance would likely be outmaneuvered by developers armed with lawyers and engineers intimately familiar with siting policies.
Under the plan outlined by Fox, the city would adopt a boilerplate ordinance used in about 2,000 communities nationwide – but tailored to Keyser's specific needs – and Fox staff would administer the law, overseeing the review process for any company that wants to site a tower in the community.
Fox would not be paid by the city, however, with its expenses included in an escrow application fee filed with the city. Such application fees, Fox said, can run as high as $20,000, but with companies leasing their towers for upwards of $100,000 per year per antenna, those expenses are easily absorbed by the developers.
Overall, Fox said, her company would provide a “rational, logical and orderly” approach to cell phone tower development in the city. Working with the city, Fox would aim to limit tower development by making maximum use of co-location – where one tower houses several antennas – and by making the towers as “invisible” as possible by minimizing the visual impact through camouflaging techniques. Fox would also work to ensure that towers are no taller than necessary.
The ordinance Fox proposed would also prohibit “spec” towers, in which a developer builds a tower on speculation, and then tries to attract cell phone companies to attach antennas to it. The ordinance outlined by Fox would require that any proposed cell towers have a contract with a wireless provider before the tower can be built.
The City Council took no action on the issue at last week's meeting, but city officials said they would give the proposal serious consideration. “The idea is to be proactive not reactive,” Amtower said. “I see this as an opportunity to protect our citizens as a whole.”
