Story last updated at 7:06 p.m. on Sunday, May 30, 1999
'Twofer' tower solution was reached by luck
By Dan Scanlan
Staff writer
The Jacksonville Planning Commission has approved a rezoning request that
will allow two area digital telephone companies to co-locate on a JEA
power pole at 12241 St. Augustine Road.
The unanimous vote Thursday does more than allow the construction of a
140-foot telephone tower in a heavily wooded area of Mandarin.
The new tower gives Powertel a more palatable site than one proposed a
few blocks away that was facing city and neighborhood opposition. The
tower will also have room for up to two more antennas, allowing Sprint
PCS
to move a controversial antenna from a site off Marbon Road.
''We are all in agreement that this is a good location for this tower.
The
whole intent here is to take down the old [Sprint] tower and erect a new
one
at this site,'' said city attorney Karl Sanders. ''There is also the possibility
we
will get yet another carrier to co-locate on this same tower, which is
unprecedented in Jacksonville, to actually have three people co-locating
on a
tower at once.''
The decision also pleases Autumn Glen resident Jeffrey Smith, whose home
is 35 feet from that 97-foot Sprint PCS antenna off Marbon Road.
Smith and City Council members vehemently opposed Sprint PCS in early
June of 1998 when it replaced an 80-foot Jacksonville Electric Authority
power pole with the 97-foot concrete pole behind Smith's home and topped
it with an antenna.
City zoning officials allowed the taller pole on the power line right of
way,
claiming it was a modification of an existing pole. But Smith contended
the
city misinterpreted its 1996 tower ordinance, saying it should have allowed
an antenna atop an existing pole.
Smith said he knew the city was searching for a new antenna site, but didn't
know a final selection had been made.
''That is what we have been hoping to have happen, so that is good news,''
Smith said. ''We were cautiously optimistic that it might happen, but you
never know.''
The ''twofer'' solution was reached by luck.
Powertel was facing opposition from the city's Planning and Development
Department over its original plans to build a 130-foot telephone tower
at the
Day Star Christian Church, 12700 St. Augustine Road.
City planners said the tower would have been too close to an old property
line inside church property and violated the city statute that said all
telephone
towers must be 250 feet from residential property. Powertel attorney John
Welch appealed that recommendation and also filed for a zoning variance
just in case.
''We didn't expect to file for a variance because we thought we had been
careful to locate more than 250 feet from the nearest residential lot,''
Welch
said. ''We applied for the variance in the event the appeal was turned
down.''
Then the city informed Welch that Sprint PCS had found an alternate site
for
its controversial antenna off Marbon Road, and asked if he would be
interested in co-locating on that tower. That started a series of meetings
that
ended the day before the planning commission hearing, said Coleen Carroll,
Sprint's senior property manager.
''We worked with the general counsel's office and JEA and located another
site that would solve the problem and keep everyone happy. It's a very
rural
site on a JEA easement and we all feel it's met the criteria,'' she said.
''It took
us a while [to find it]. We had different people we had to make happy.''
''We think it is a win for everyone,'' Welch added.
Despite the fact that city officials and both companies agreed to the site,
it
still needed a zoning change, and one person was opposed to it during
Thursday's commission hearing.
Realtor Jimi Jones, who represents a nearby 48-acre site's owner, said
she
doesn't know if a developer will want a telephone antenna looming over
his
homes.
''I am afraid that the developers who have this under contract will not
be
interested in purchasing it,'' she said. ''That being the case, you would
suspect that you would have an unhappy landowner.''
