THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 16, 1996 TAG: 9610160395
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: By MAC DANIEL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: 31 lines
After months of delays and negotiations with cellular communications officials, the city council on Tuesday passed an ordinance limiting the height of antenna towers.
Under the new local law, which was unanimously passed with no discussion, a communication tower can be no taller than 190 feet, unless it is located on another structure in a rural- or industrial-zoned district. Then, the tower can be as high as 500 feet.
During the delay, Chesapeake businessmen John Harris and James Bradford got the council's approval of a 500-foot free-standing antenna, something that could not have been done under the new ordinance.
The Planning Commission had recommended the project be denied by an 8-1 vote.
The law, one of the first in the region addressing such antennas, is geared toward regulating the ``porcupine effect'' of communication towers on the local landscape. An onslaught of new communication towers is expected throughout the country as digital communications technology is introduced to local markets.
The council has already passed regulations that ask competing communication companies to share antenna towers. In addition, Chesapeake has created a plan to allow communication towers on city-owned property to help keep the towers out of residential areas.
KEYWORDS: ANTENNA COMMUNICATION TOWERS by CNB