Planners OK Fayetteville cellular tower

Residents voice concerns over property value, safety

FAYETTEVILLE — A monopole cellular tower soon will go up on Huntsville Road just outside Fayetteville, said David Reynolds, tower project manager with Smith Communications.

“These towers are designed as a compromise between aesthetics and functionality,” Reynolds said

The Washington County Planning Board and Zoning Board of Adjustments approved Thursday a permit for a cell tower at 5044 E. Huntsville Road. The move came over the objections of neighbors who raised concerns over property value, compatibility, safety and health issues.

Eight neighbors contacted planning staff to object to the 150-foot tower, county records show.

“We do not need another ugly structure detracting from a country feel or depreciating property values,” wrote Richard and Patricia Nelson in an opposition letter filed Thursday with the county.

The tower is designed to be shorter than older-style designs and is enclosed to be more attractive, Reynolds said. The design is cylindrical with the antennas hidden in the single, tube tower, records

show.

“The big tower of 300 feet tall with the beacon is over — those don’t really happen anymore,” Reynolds said.

A different version of the cell tower had been approved in 2014, and a neighbor appealed, Reynolds said. The project stalled the same year, but now, the project is back with changes, Reynolds said.

The neighbors who originally objected were consulted, and the new design may be OK with them now, said Scott Hall, an attorney representing the neighbors who had appealed. The same tower is used in other Fayetteville neighborhoods already, Reynolds said.

Neighbors still objected Thursday. Amy Myers, who lives on Paradise Road, said she and other neighbors are disappointed with the Planning Board’s decision to allow the cell tower, Myers said.

“I really feel like I’ve been gypped because I just moved here less than a year ago and

already the property value will take a hit,” Myers said.

In other business, the board failed to pass a variance request for a proposed subdivision on about 22 acres at 3022 N. Hughmount Road near Fayetteville. Developers hope the proposed, 74- lot subdivision will be annexed into Fayetteville and connected to city sewer.

The board also tabled proposed permit for Meadows at River Mist, a 125-lot subdivision with a proposed private sewer system near Beaver Lake and Springdale.

Other approved measures included a minor subdivision request for May Minor Subdivision at 13344 Goshen Tuttle Road near Elkins; a development request for Rid- A- Pest near Prairie Township; and a permit and development amendment for Huntsville Road Storage west of 3542 E. Huntsville Road.