DATE: Wednesday, August 20, 1997            TAG: 9708200413

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B7   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY TERRI WILLIAMS, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: SUFFOLK                           LENGTH:   65 lines

SUFFOLK COUNCIL TO CONSIDER ADDITION TO TOWER

Suffolk officials, under pressure from the booming wireless industry, are trying to find ways to control the number and locations of communications towers and antennas in the city.

Tonight, the City Council will field a request from Frank L. Tetrick, on behalf of PrimeCo Personal Communications, to attach a 15-foot communication antenna to an existing 120-foot Virginia Power tower off Kings Fork Road near Diamond Springs Park.

The property belongs to the Suffolk Youth Athletic Association, and Tetrick is president of the association's board. A public hearing on the proposal will begin at 7 p.m.

In its last meeting, the Planning Commission unanimously approved permitting the antenna with some conditions:

The antenna should not extend more than 15 feet above the Virginia Power tower.

Pedestrian access from the Suffolk Youth Athletic Association property should be the only access permitted to the site.

If the tower and antenna is no longer being used for wireless communication, the tower must be dismantled.

In Suffolk, there are about five public towers and approximately 25 private towers, said Planning Director Paul E. Fisher.

On Tuesday, the Planning Commission recommended expanding the areas for towers to include the central business district and the industrial districts.

In addition, last month the planning staff drafted a policy that would allow it to review all proposals to attach antennas to towers.

To reduce the need for new towers, the staff also removed the requirement that applicants must apply for a conditional use permit to attach an antenna to an existing tower. Conditional use permits are now only required to build a tower.

In addition, new towers must provide enough room for two or more additional users, said city planner Elizabeth Friel. If technology changes and there is no more use for the towers, they must be dismantled, she said.

Towers are to be up to 300 feet, and any additions that add height to the tower, such as an antenna, would require an additional conditional use permit.

Throughout Hampton Roads, city officials are grappling with ways to slow the growth of telecommunications towers.

In June, Suffolk city officials issued a stop-work order for a telecommunications antenna being built along a highway in the northern section of the city.

The tower, near the Route 17 interchange along Interstate 664, was being built under an agreement between AT&T Wireless and the state to construct nearly two dozen such structures along highways in the region.

Planning Director Fisher said the stop order has since been released while the planning staff reviews the site plans for the antenna.

Earlier this year in Virginia Beach, Little Neck residents opposed plans from Lynnhaven United Methodist Church to build two 135-foot communications towers to accommodate the needs of 360 Communications, AT&T Wireless Services, PrimeCo Personal Communications and GTE. The Virginia Beach City Council sided with the residents and voted against the plan. The companies filed suit in federal court. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

TO ATTEND

What: Public Hearing on a proposal to add an antenna to a

communication tower

Where: 441 Market Street

Time: 7 tonight

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