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Tower Restrictions in Franklin County

As of Feb. 2004, it appears we have reached reasonable accomadation regarding Amateur Radio Towers in Franklin Co.

What we have achieved is as follows:

1. Upto 35 ft. no permission needed.
2. Over 35 ft. up to 100 ft. of Highest Antenna Attachment Point,
• $25.00 Application fee plus $50.00 inspection fee.
• No engineering drawings needed.
• Need to submit site plan with notes
3. Over 100 ft. Need to go before Board of Adjustments
4. Second Tower over 35 ft. Need to go before Board of Adjustments
5. You can have multiple towers less than 35 ft. no fees.

Pre-existing Towers

1. Tower erected prior to Oct. 8 2001, it is possible that pre 35 ft. rule applies.
2. Non confirming situation.. if it moves it must follow rules applied today.

Details can be found at the Franklin Co. Website. regarding towers.  This site assumes no responsibility for errors posted here.  This is a guideline only!

Old News

Oct. 14, 2003 Franklin County Amateur Radio Operators once again met with the planning board in Franklin County to discuss and persuade them to allow us the ability to operate using towers at a reasonable height.  Duane Tetterton, KD4DMQ gave a lengthy, detailed presentation covering the material he had forwarded to the planning board director prior to the meeting.

A short video from the ARRL featuring Walter Cronkite, a fellow ham was shown during the presentation. There has been some concern that the planning board director has not been disseminating all the necessary information to the planning board committee.  We may have to address this in future meetings.

It is our understanding that we might have been offered 60 feet max height with a 2 tower maximum number before filing for special use.  This did not occur based on the planning board’s request to table the matter so they could review the massive amount of information that was presented.  Duane Tetterton and Craig Fenter are hoping to compile the information that was presented and convert it into a digital format. Once that occurs, it will be posted here and made available to all. 

The right to have reasonable accomodation will continue at the next planning board meeting.

The tower committee and several Ham operators attended the Sept 9, 2003 Franklin County Planning board meeting.  The Franklin county planning director made a proposal to offer 50 feet without special use permits.  But would not grandfather existing structures into the proposal. There was a motion to table this item until more information could be obtained.  It was felt that much of the information provided to the planning director was not conveyed to planning board members. PRB-1 was re-introduced into the arguments, and some education was offered concerning tower usage and antenna characteristics.  Overall, we would like to see 75 feet minimum, a grandfather clause and 2 towers before filing special use fees etc.

click here to see the county’s proposal

Our initial meeting with the Franklin County Commissioners was a positive meeting. Duane Tetterton (FCARC Tower Committee) made a presentation to the commissioners that gave a history of what happened in 1993 and the events that led to FCARC seeking reaffirmation of the decision that was made then, but NOT recorded into county ordinances.

The commissioners referred the action to the planning board, which is what we expected.  The direction to them was to work with the FCARC Tower committee “in real time” to find an agreeable solution that could be written into county ordinance.

We believe that the relationship will be a positive one. Initial meetings with the planning board prior to the commissioner’s meeting were indicative of a positive outcome. The FCARC Tower committee did not feel that they were empowered to compromise certain aspects of the petition and recent club actions, thus the meeting and presentation to the commissioners was not delayed.

We are hoping for a pre-meeting with the planning board prior to our May club meeting. This will give the Tower committee an opportunity to have up to date information possibly to vote on or discuss during the May 5 Club meeting.

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