I just re-read the tower ordinance and found that I was mistaken about the
fall radius requirement. Amateurs are exempted from that provision, so I
suppose I'm free to construct my tower so that it could fall on my
neighbor's house. (That would be a problem though since his house is a few
hundred feet from the property line.)
The ordinance specifies for amateur towers:
1) Towers up to 100' are allowed in all zoning districts
2) Towers up to 200' are allowed on property that is at least 5 acres and is
zoned one of the following: agricultural; residential agricultural; A-1-20;
or A-1-40 (I'm not certain what those last two are). Most of the undeveloped
acreage in the county is zoned agricultural (my 9 acres are).
3) Normal zoning district setbacks apply (in other words, you can build the
tower where you could build anything else)
4) Anti-climbing devices shall be installed on each tower
The parts of the tower ordinance that we aren't exempted from are:
1) Towers shall comply with:
A) the county comprehensive development plan
B) the county land development regulations (I believe that these first two
are aimed at commercial towers being built on previously undeveloped land-
any other reading would be contrary to the language and intent of the
amateur exemption)
C) all applicable fire safety codes, building codes, and technical codes
adopted by the county (there is a section titled "Structural Design" that we
are exempted from- that section requires a building permit; thus it appears
that the language requires us to meet code, but exempts us from having to
have it examined by the county engineer)
D) all applicable federal and state regulations
2) Radiation and Emission Standards set by the FCC (I guess running 1501
watts or an unauthorized emission type is an ordinance violation?)
Overall, not too bad an ordinance. Now if I could just get rid of that pesky
airstrip...
Doug
K4DDR
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