Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 17, 1994 TAG: 9405170101
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Spearheaded by Blacksburg restaurateur and developer Bill Ellenbogen, tower opponents plan to make their voices heard at Monday's public hearing on Contel Cellular's application for a special use permit.
They've even come up with that staple of citizens' groups, a catchy acronym: SERV, for Save Ellett's Rural Vistas.
Ellenbogen, whose home overlooks the tower site, said the opposition is motivated by concerns for "aesthetics, property values [and] degradation of why everyone has chosen to live in the Ellett Valley."
Contel Cellular applied for a special use permit to build the tower to improve coverage in the valley. The area east of Blacksburg and north of Christiansburg has dead spots because of the terrain.
To build the communications tower on mountainside property at 2440 Lusters Gate Road owned by James P. Clouse, the company will need approval from the Board of Supervisors.
At 7 p.m. Monday, the supervisors and the county Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on the proposal on the third floor of the Montgomery County Courthouse.
Ellenbogen said Friday he'd heard from about 50 people so far and encouraged others to call him at his Blacksburg restaurant, Bogen's, or show up at the public hearing.
"I'm not leading this effort," Ellenbogen said. "This is sort of a groundswell."
He said the tower would be visible from eight subdivisions: Mossy Springs, Woodland Hills, Deercroft, Oakton, Country Club Estates, Cedar Orchard, Highland Park and Rainbow Ridge. Ellenbogen is one of the developers of Oakton.
"One of our big concerns is that the whole idea of zoning is that it allows you to construct your home [with] some reasonable expectation of what exists in your environment," Ellenbogen said. "This is a commercial use in what is clearly a noncommercial area."
Retiree Peter A. Smith moved to the Woodland Hills subdivision in February and shares that concern. A retired bank president from south Georgia, Smith wondered if there wasn't some way to use a smaller tower by moving the site farther up the ridge.
Cellular One used such an approach to win approval last week of a smaller new tower on Bent Mountain in Roanoke County.
"I wouldn't have bought this property if I had this upright dagger right in the view," Smith said.
Contel Cellular maintains that the 185-foot tower will not be as visible because it will be on a 1,699-foot spur of 2,600- to 3,000-foot Paris Mountain.
The company's general manager, John Rodman, said Monday that because the top of the tower will be below the crest of the ridge, it will not be a hazard to aviation and therefore will not need to be painted or have lights atop. He said the tower with a "galvanized steel color" would be located among 70- to 85-foot trees and "wouldn't stand out."
From a technical standpoint, Rodman said, the tower could not be changed dramatically in order to be effective at the site the company has chosen.
However, "There's a possibility we might be able to camouflage it," Rodman said. He will attend the public hearing.
Afterward, the Planning Commission will consider the application in a separate room while the Board of Supervisors continues its regular meeting.
Though the commission must make a recommendation on the request within 30 days of the public hearing, it will probably not reach a decision Monday night. Instead, it will likely continue the matter to its June 15 meeting and make a recommendation then. That would bring the tower application before the Board of Supervisors for a decision on June 27.
by CNB