Gang,
First instance.............................
>> "Hi, my name is Joe Spinosa, can you tell me if I need a permit to put up an
>> amateur radio antenna?"
>
>> Man's voice: "An amateur radio antenna eh. I think you are exempt. How
high
>> are you going?"
>>
>> Me: "I'm thinking about one of these crank-up jobs, goes from about 12'
>> cranked down to about 40' cranked up".
>>
>> Man's voice: "We require a permit on the commercial users, but for
>> residential I don't see anything."
Second Instance...............
> I've been watching this thread intensely. I have a used ROHN 56 FT
>25G tower lying in pieces in my backyard that I purchased this past
>summer. I live in an unincorporated area, but very much in the
>city/suburbs (just a few miles north of Denver, CO). Wanting to do
>everything right I called the county building and planning departments.
>I got similar responses from both areas. Actually building sent me to
>planning and they said that "anything under 90 feet was a use by right".
>The planning guy was not a ham but is ham-friendly. He suggested I write
>letters to both building and planning and wait for replies. That way, if
>problems arise later I have stuff in writing. He also suggested checking
>with my fire protection district. I haven't done that yet, but so far
>can't find ANY codes or permits pertinent to this project.
Except for getting the persons name in both examples both of these hams are
ready to put up their towers! Building departments are in the business of
issuing permits and charging fees, planning departments are into use plans,
zonings, and probably will never even look at a tower request unless FAA or
local ordinances require them to do so. I went through this in 1980 to put
up my tower. There were hundreds of towers in my county, but I wanted to
comply with the law so I sent in my application for a building permit with
excellent drawings from Lou Tristao (nee US Tower). At first the finance
manager sent me a letter saying towers were not permitted in residential
areas then I got the County Commissioner to take a look and I got a 6 to
nothing vote to allow my tower. I then got a letter approving my tower.
I kept all my notes and have been challenged once. The commissioner said
I never did need a permit just their permission. Its still that way except
that towers over 50' require input from neighbors thru a no cost special use
permit. They claim FAA regs allow them to do this.
One area that could be a problem are residential and architectural
committees representing homeowners groups. One near me tried to re-instate
CC&R's, but we got the tower/satellite dish part removed (except no towers
etc in the front yard). Gerald, W5BA near Houston has a problem with an
architectural committee. The committee can be defeated, but his lawyer says
it could be expensive.
Don Stoner W6TNS has a web page to act as a clearinghouse for tower/antenna
problems.
Dave K4JRB
thompson@mindspring.com
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