SCC cell tower passes Webster town board | Top Stories … – The Sylva Herald

A wireless communications tower took three steps last Wednesday, allowing up to three new service providers serving the Webster area.

In a meeting at Southwestern Community College last Wednesday, Webster leaders approved unanimously three motions to allow Vogue Tower Partners, LLC, based out of Chattanooga, Tennessee, to erect a cell tower near a water tank in wooded land on the SCC campus.

The proposed towers address is 336 College Drive, a back road that loops around behind the main campus and comes out on Webster Road beside the National Guard Armory.

The company plans to raise a wireless communication tower 195 feet in total height (190 feet of tower and 5 feet of lightning rod) on a low rise on SCC property.

At a public hearing last Wednesday, Webster leaders invited the public to speak on the proposal and voted unanimously to pass all three motions.

Vogue was asking for three waivers, Webster Mayor Tracy Rodes said in a Monday interview. The first motion waived the special use permit.

If we had opted to go that route it would have been a lengthier proceeding and they would have needed to submit some engineering reports to our board, Rodes said. Nobody really felt like we needed to do that, because (Jackson County Senior Planner) John Jeleniewski is the expert who knew if they met the specifications.

The second motion had to do with height.

The countys height restriction is 180 feet, and they wanted 195 feet, she said. The extra 15 feet allows co-location of multiple providers, and thats the best use of that tower, rather than having to build more towers.

The third waiver had to do with keeping a maintenance log for the road to the tower onsite. The board voted to waive the requirement and Vogue will keep the log digitally, Rodes said.

About 10 members of the public attended the meeting, Rodes said.

We heard nothing negative, she said.

Prior to the meeting, a developer of an adjacent property had contacted county officials about the aesthetics of the tower, but the man had not followed up further and did not attend the meeting, Rodes said.

Letters of support came in from five entities, including the Jackson County Rescue Squad and Sheriffs Office, Western Carolina University and SCC.

Reasons for the tower included safety, education, increased communication, telehealth are things that are important to Webster, Rodes said. Its hard to say I am excited, because I will have a view of that from my home, but it doesnt require lights because it is not 200 feet.

Rodes is willing to trade the view of the tower for improved cell service.

When it rains, the mayor and vice mayor cant even talk on their cell phones without the call dropping three times, she said. We sure hope to increase the signal strength in our town, too. ... just the good outweighs the bad.

Verizon Wireless is listed as the wireless communications provider, with Vogue as the facility owner on the Wireless Communication Facility Application filed with the planning department.

There will be space for three providers, with Verizon the first to place equipment atop the tower.

The tower and supporting facilities will be located on the east side of the property, near an existing Tuckaseigee Water and Sewer Authority tank and contained within a 2,343 square foot secured compound.

The compound will contain the lattice tower, meter rack, provider equipment building, backup generator and equipment shelter areas for future providers.

An 8-foot secured chain-link fence will surround the equipment. Three sides of the parcel, a very irregular pentagon shape, will feature a 5-foot wide landscape buffer to be planted with evergreen trees. The other sides face into the woods and would not be visible from any roadway.

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SCC cell tower passes Webster town board | Top Stories ... - The Sylva Herald