Despite protests from those attending Tuesday night’s meeting, the Richmond County Planning Board voted 4-3 to send the tower ordinance back to the county commissioners with their requested changes.

The planning board turned in the first revision of the tower ordinance to the Richmond County Board of Commissioners in October, but the commissioners sent the ordinance back to the planning board in December asking they change the fall line regulation and remove any exemptions for tower permits.

The planning board had originally revised the tower ordinance to say that the fall area for a tower could be 75 percent of the tower’s height, but the commissioners were uncomfortable with that and asked that it be 100 percent.

In its revision, the planning board had revised the ordinance to exempt a permit requirement for Ham Radio operators and AM/FM radio towers. The county commissioners however wanted all towers treated equally and the exceptions removed.

During Tuesday night’s meeting Victor Ferris, a former Hamlet city council member, retired Marine Corps officer and Ham radio operator for 30 years spoke against the removal of those exemptions.

“After I got out of the Marines I was going blind so I said if I’m going to be sitting at home I need to be constructive so I started studying Morse code, antennas, etc., and passed the FCC novice test, technicians test and got my general license,” Ferris explained. “I got my radio equipment and Ham radio is my hobby and that kept me going for 30 years. I don’t know what I would have done without that. I’ve passed traffic all around the world.

“The FCC licensed 30,000 Ham Radio operators this year,” he continued. “I happen to have a tower, put it up 30 years ago, and it withstood Hugo perfectly. I did have pine trees blow down, though. If they’re put up properly we got it made, it won’t be coming down. My tower is perfect and it’s been there 30 years. I don’t know why in the world one of the stipulations is something just one person can object to. There is no one in this room that someone doesn’t like. I’m a licensed radio operator and proud of it. I’ve done all the regulatory work, we regulate our own people.”

What Ferris was referring to is the permitting process. If the board of commissioners approves the tower ordinance without making exemptions for Ham radio operators or AM/FM radio towers, anyone who wants to put up a tower for Ham radio use will have to fill out an application with the county, pay a fee, and have a public hearing to give any neighboring property owners a chance to voice their opinion on the proposed tower.

But County Planner James Armstrong said one person’s opinion wouldn’t stop a tower from being erected, but it would give them a chance to be heard. And because the public hearing would be in front of the County’s Zoning Board of Adjustment, a quasi-judicial board, only statements of fact, not opinion, would be considered.

Murray Van Billingsley with Electronic Service Company (ESC) asked whether or not a condition could be put into the ordinance that said opinion couldn’t be counted against the permit applicant for a radio tower, in order to preserve the right of Ham radio operators.

“We can’t take away a person’s right to complain and object,” Armstrong said. “So let the due process system work and let facts decide the case, not opinion. Allow both sides to have a fair argument and hammer out which facts are right. I believe in the system. It doesn’t always work, but I believe in the system.”

Others like Howard McLaurin from WKDX in Hamlet and Cheryl Jackson with G104 also spoke against the commissioners request for no exemptions in the ordinance because radio towers are already federally regulated.

Norvin Forester, retired former pastor of McDonald Baptist Church and a Ham radio operator for 50 years also spoke in opposition of a tower ordinance.

“I just bought a house in Richmond County and before I did I asked if they had a tower ordinance, they said no, and if I’d known there was a tower ordinance coming, I wouldn’t have bought a house here,” he said.

Bill Scott, a county resident said the whole tower ordinance needed to be scrapped — not just the two items that were up for discussion Tuesday night.

“I’m against any regulation of towers,” Scott said. “The FCC does it well enough.”

Application fees and lack of full coverage for cell phone users also came up during the discussion.

Armstrong said no cell tower had ever been turned down in the area, and every one that had applied had no problem with the application fee.

There was a question amongst the board if they even needed to vote on the two revisions since the board of commissioners has the only power to make things official, and if the planning board had changed the revisions again, the ordinance would just keep going back and forth between the two boards. So, after some brief board discussion, the planning board voted on each item individually.

The first motion was to approve the fall line regulation of 100 percent of the height of a tower, and that motion passed with a 5-2 vote, with Jim Lambeth and chairman Harvey Melton voting in negative. Members William Cipriani Jr., Greg Norton, Richard Williams, Fred Morris and Gerald Witherspoon voted in favor of the motion.

The second motion was to approve the removal of exemptions and send the ordinance back to the commissioners as they requested, and that motion also passed with 4-3 vote, with Melton, Cipriani and Witherspoon voting negative. Members Norton, Williams, Morris and Lambeth voted in favor of the motion.

The ordinance will now head back to the county commissioners for a final vote, likely to be at their February or March meeting.

Staff writer Eren Tataragasi can be reached at (910) 997-3111 ext. 19 or at etataragasi@yourdailyjournal.com.