DATE: Wednesday, October 8, 1997            TAG: 9710080499

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: BY JEFFREY S. HAMPTON, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY                    LENGTH:   31 lines

CURRITUCK PUTS A SIX-MONTH MORATORIUM ON NEW TOWERS

Currituck County commissioners declared a six-month moratorium on communication towers Monday after discovering that 13 of the county's 19 towers were approved just in the last year.

The county's Board of Adjustments recently approved Bill Ray's request to build a 950-foot tower in Mamie. Ray is competing against several others for a Federal Communications Commission license to start the first television station on the Outer Banks.

Some nearby homeowners protested the tower, but the board of adjustments is required to approve the application if it meets zoning regulations.

County law requires a one-foot setback from the base of the tower for every foot of the tower's height above 35 feet.

Other, more subjective regulations require the board to determine if the tower is in harmony with neighboring properties and does not hurt property values. Pinewood Acres homeowners argued that Ray's tower did not meet those requirements. The protests, and the acceleration in tower construction, prompted the commissioners to declare the moratorium.

``We will evaluate our regulations to see if any changes need to be made,'' said Jack Simoneau, director of the Currituck County Planning Department.

The rapid growth of cellular phones has created much of the tower-building frenzy. Others are for radio and television.

``I'm sure there is technology out there for multiple use of single towers,'' said Currituck County Attorney Bill Romm.

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