Subcarrier Communications (Old Bridge, NJ) via local representative Mickey Villella is seeking a Conditional use Permit from Huerfano Co. for a 180 foot cell phone tower, unlit monopole (no guy wires), just east of the town water tanks on land owned by Charles R. Briggs. The location is not within the municipality of La Veta. Zoning is agricultural.
The proposed 180' mono pole cell phone tower site is adjacent to County Road 360 (Birch Street) on the right side of the road as one drives from town, at the elbow of the last right-turn in the road immediately before the straightaway that goes past the town/fishing lakes. It abuts the barbed-wire divider between the town property to the South and the private property to the North.
It is a proposed 80'x90' fenced compound with 4" of concrete/stone throughout, and up to 4 25'x15' lease areas and equipment shelters. The 180' monopole would have an 8' lightening rod, total = 188'. The Site Plan states that upon approval of CUP, the site will be built out with an approximate completion time of 2 months.
During a meeting with the Huerfano Co. Planning and Zoning Commission on 7/22, the applicant for the tower indicated that they were in a hurry and asked for an up or down vote at that time. Federal subsidies given for cell phone towers in rural locations in 2007 equaled $1.12 billion. The Federal Communications Commission recently voted to cap the subsidy program. It is unknown if this is the reason for applicant being in a hurry.
Construction of new towers is unlikely in 5-7 years and they’d have up to 10 years to take it down, if the company is still in business. There is the question of who will take it down if company files bankruptcy.
What does the County Land Use Guide Say?
According to the Huerfano Land Use Guide, constuction of a tower at the proposed location is not compliant with the permitted uses of agricultural zoning by right. Understanding this, the applicant is seeking a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) from the County. When a CUP is applied for, the proposed conditional use needs to be consistent with the Land Use Guide. The following language from Section 2.11.05 in the guide indicates that it is not:
"Above ground telecommunications facilities, particularly towers, antennas and related commercial communications fixtures shall be grouped or clustered and wherever feasible located east of Interstate Highway I-25 and north of Highway 10. Under no circumstances shall such facilities be located within a SCO Scenic Conservation Overlay District or location that obstructs or infringes on ridge line views or other local scenic features."
In addition, page 43 of the Land Use Guide describes the location of the proposed cell tower as being within a Scenic Conservation Overlay district:
"Scenic Conservation Corridors and Sites
Scenic conservation corridors are areas adjacent to and extending beyond state or federal highways in Huerfano county and areas of otherwise special scenic interest that offer mountain, canyon, plains and mountain-plains vistas of uncommon natural beauty. The scenic vistas visible from these corridors include high peaks, subalpine parks, and meadowlands, igneous rock formations and transitional foothills. The purpose of the establishment of these corridors does not preclude development thereon. But it requires that such development be sited, constructed and finished in a manner that is compatible with, in harmony with, and does not intrude upon the existing vistas. The designated scenic corridors include:
01. To the north and south of US Highway 160 between its junction with Sand Creek Arroyo west of Walsenburg and the summit of North La Veta Pass.
02. {omitted, does not apply}
03. The area east of Highway 12 bewteen the highway's first crossing of the Cucharas River south of La Veta and the summit of Cucharas Pass.
04. {omitted, does not apply}
05. {omitted, does not apply}
06. {omitted, does not apply}
07. {omitted, does not apply}
08. {omitted, does not apply}
09. All other portions of the designated Highway of Legends Scenic and Historic Byway not otherwise listed above."
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