Clarke Allows Small-Scale Lattice Communications Towers
At its February 2019 meeting, the Clarke County Board of Supervisors approved a zoning ordinance amendment that allows wireless internet service providers to build antenna support structures in the county.
Wireless internet service providers (WISPs) had told county officials that a ban on erecting any towers with a lattice design hurts efforts to improve and expand internet service, especially in lesser-populated locations outside the incorporated towns of Berryville and Boyce. Previously, the county only allowed towers with monopole designs.
WISP representatives said that for customers lacking direct line of sight to a broadcast tower, it is necessary to install equipment on a small-scale lattice tower in order to establish a line of sight. Small-scale lattice towers — commonly used by ham radio enthusiasts — have a smaller footprint and are constructed from smaller gauge steel. Small-scale lattice towers are easier and less expensive to install than comparable monopole towers. They are easier to maintain because technicians can climb lattice towers whereas bucket trucks are needed to service monopoles.
Now, the amendment creates a new class of allowable towers designed to accommodate not only WISP equipment, but also television antennas, small satellite dishes, and other types of communications equipment. Such structures can be either freestanding or attached to, or mounted on, a building or another type of structure. Having an average diameter of about 2 feet, they are much smaller in scale compared to traditional cell towers.
Freestanding structures can be lattice-style towers or monopole-type masts. Freestanding structures cannot rise more than 100 feet above the ground, and a zoning permit issued by the Zoning Administrator is required. Those mounted to buildings or other structures cannot be more than 80 feet high, including the height of structures to which they are attached. A permit is not needed to install one.
Regardless of height, structures along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains cannot be taller than the tree canopy.
The new Class 6 antenna support structures need setbacks of at least 100 feet from property lines, public rights of way and private land access easements. A minimum setback of 50 feet is required for guy wires and anchors. The maximum width of such structures and their foundations is 8 feet.
“Clarke County is committed to improving internet service throughout the county by addressing the needs of internet service providers,” said David Weiss, the supervisors’ chairman. “It’s been one of the board’s top priorities.”
Wireless internet service providers (WISPs) had told county officials that a ban on erecting any towers with a lattice design hurts efforts to improve and expand internet service, especially in lesser-populated locations outside the incorporated towns of Berryville and Boyce. Previously, the county only allowed towers with monopole designs.
WISP representatives said that for customers lacking direct line of sight to a broadcast tower, it is necessary to install equipment on a small-scale lattice tower in order to establish a line of sight. Small-scale lattice towers — commonly used by ham radio enthusiasts — have a smaller footprint and are constructed from smaller gauge steel. Small-scale lattice towers are easier and less expensive to install than comparable monopole towers. They are easier to maintain because technicians can climb lattice towers whereas bucket trucks are needed to service monopoles.
Now, the amendment creates a new class of allowable towers designed to accommodate not only WISP equipment, but also television antennas, small satellite dishes, and other types of communications equipment. Such structures can be either freestanding or attached to, or mounted on, a building or another type of structure. Having an average diameter of about 2 feet, they are much smaller in scale compared to traditional cell towers.
Freestanding structures can be lattice-style towers or monopole-type masts. Freestanding structures cannot rise more than 100 feet above the ground, and a zoning permit issued by the Zoning Administrator is required. Those mounted to buildings or other structures cannot be more than 80 feet high, including the height of structures to which they are attached. A permit is not needed to install one.
Regardless of height, structures along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains cannot be taller than the tree canopy.
The new Class 6 antenna support structures need setbacks of at least 100 feet from property lines, public rights of way and private land access easements. A minimum setback of 50 feet is required for guy wires and anchors. The maximum width of such structures and their foundations is 8 feet.
“Clarke County is committed to improving internet service throughout the county by addressing the needs of internet service providers,” said David Weiss, the supervisors’ chairman. “It’s been one of the board’s top priorities.”