DATE: Tuesday, July 1, 1997                 TAG: 9707010002

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B10  EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Editorial 

                                            LENGTH:   60 lines

TELECOMMUNICATIONS TOWERS: LET CITIES PICK SITES VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION HAS RUN ROUGHSHOD OVER CITIES

If the federal government ran roughshod over state government the way state government is running roughshod over cities in building dozens of communications towers, the howls from Richmond would be audible for 100 miles.

Imagine the volume of Gov. George F. Allen's protest if Washington built tall ugly towers throughout Virginia without informing Richmond in advance where the towers would go.

Last week, Suffolk city officials discovered that a 150-foot communications tower was being erected on a highly visible site along the I-664 right-of-way near Route 17. The tower is one of 23 such towers being erected in Hampton Roads this summer under an agreement between the Virginia Department of Transportation and AT&T Wireless. Sites include I-64, and Virginia Beach-Norfolk Expressway right-of-ways. The agreement was made last October, but no one informed cities till January.

Under the agreement, AT&T can build the towers without obtaining zoning permits from cities and apparently without even notifying cities. City ordinances, such as ones protecting scenic vistas, can be ignored. The quality of life of city residents can be adversely affected, without their having a say.

At a stormy session with local city officials last February, state transportation engineer Stephany Hanshaw said construction of the towers would cease until Virginia Department of Transportation officials met with representatives of each city to find ways to choose more acceptable sites.

But no one told Suffolk officials the I-664 tower was about to be built or where.

Chesapeake officials learned in advance a tower would be built on the I-64 right-of-way near I-464 - but not from VDOT, which should have alerted the city. The news was delivered by AT&T.

Suffolk obtained a stop-work order on the tower there. Suffolk City Manager Myles Standish said he hoped to meet with VDOT this week to arrange to work with the agency so Suffolk never again is surprised by a tower's being built and so the city will not have to issue stop-work orders.

A few months ago, Newport News obtained a stop-work order on three towers there. Newport News City Manager Ed Maroney said VDOT and AT&T had picked ludicrously intrusive sites. Now Newport News is helping pick less visually intrusive spots.

We hope Suffolk fares as well.

The towers appear to be a good deal for VDOT, AT&T and taxpayers. The company wants them to handle the region's growing number of cellular calls. To obtain sites for the towers, it agreed to purchase and place about $25,000 worth of cameras and message signs on each tower and to pay a monthly $1,000 lease per tower. There's room on each tower for a second mobile-phone transmitter, to be leased for the same amount.

Statewide over the next decade, VDOT could collect tens of millions of dollars in revenues and equipment contributions from phone-service providers. Construction of a highway monitoring system, currently two years behind schedule, is likely to be sped up.

Still, city residents deserve better treatment than the AT&T-VDOT deal affords them. Local governments should help choose tower sites. The towers' neighbors should have a say in what they may have to look at the rest of their lives.

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