The Kenton County Planning Commission approved the construction of two cell towers in the county on Wednesday.
Both towers, which were proposed by tower builders Northstar Towers and Vertical Bridge, respectively, aim to provide better wireless service to the local community as “the local demand for wireless services has begun to exceed the capacity of its existing facilities,” as documentation from Kenton County Planning and Development Services puts it.
Cell tower construction is largely regulated by federal law, and local bodies are limited in controlling where they can be built. Still, carriers have to make a good faith effort to find construction sites that aren’t intrusive. The planning commission can regulate zoning for towers, but it can’t dictate specific sites where they can be built.
“Our board doesn’t have any authority to move a tower,” said Commission Attorney Matt Smith.
The Northstar tower will be located on a patch of land roughly 98 acres in size at the southeast corner of the intersection of Moffett Road and George W. Bach Road. Much of the surrounding area is undeveloped agricultural land. The land also fronts Decoursey Pike. The other tower will be located on a wooded lot in Independence along Taylor Mill Road. Both towers will be capable of housing equipment for the four major carriers: The Northstar tower’s beginning carrier will be Verizon Wireless. The Vertical Bridge tower’s anchor carrier will be T-Mobile.
Both builders felt constructing new towers, rather than attaching them to existing structures, was necessary considering either the geography of the site or the lack of tall buildings in the area.
Cell towers come in varying sizes, and both of the towers that came before the commission on Wednesday were macrocell towers, large towers that cover wide service areas, usually over a mile or so. They’re responsible for relaying cellular service to other towers and down to smaller wireless access points in individual buildings. There are currently 48 towers operating in Kenton County, according to the Federal Communications Commission. What counts as a cell tower differs between agencies, and Kenton County itself puts the number of towers in the county at 76, including both macro towers and smaller towers. Both agencies show large swaths of land without towers in the southern end of the county, where the Northstar tower will eventually go.
The commissioners were broadly in favor of the Northstar tower, but resident John Jackson, who lives near the site, voiced opposition.
“I’m totally against it,” Johnson said, adding that no one wanted to look out from their property and see a cell tower. He also said that he was kept out of the loop about the fact that there would be building planned nearby. He recommended moving the tower to the opposite side of George W. Bach Road.
Smith stated that the planning commission was limited in the power it had to determine where a tower could go, admitting that that probably wasn’t what Johnson wanted to hear.
As such, the commission ended up voting to approve the construction of the Northstar Tower.
The Vertical Bridge tower’s situation was a little different. Namely, the area where it was slated to go was largely residential and zoned for future residential development.
Andy Rotenstreich, who represented Vertical Bridge, took pains to try and persuade the commission they had done their due diligence.
“We looked at 40 other places,” Rotenstreich said, before landing on the proposed site.
Vertical Bridge had also requested variations on the street set-backs and a waiver for camouflage measures on the pole. They also wanted to use gravel on the drive leading up to the tower compound instead of having it completely paved.
Rotenstreich said that Vertical Bridge may be willing compromise on the gravel, but commissioners expressed doubt about the waivers. Moreover, several residents expressed opposition to the tower.
Three residents from the neighboring area expressed worries about the tower’s effect on their property values, the effect on local wildlife, the density of the land parcel on which the tower would sit and if the construction might exacerbate drainage problems.
“It strikes me as trying to squeeze an oversized structure into an undersized lot,” said resident Steve O’Bryan. “I’m not a real big fan.”
Following more discussion between the commissioners and Rotenstreich, the commission cast a vote allowing the construction of the tower and granting the builder’s camouflage and set-back waivers. The commission voted to deny the pavement change.
The planning commission’s decisions for both towers are final.
The next meeting of the Kenton County Planning Commission will take place on Thursday, Aug. 1 beginning at 6:15 p.m. at the Kenton County Government Center on Simon Kenton Way in Covington.