[TowerTalk] Chicago Tribune news: Ham radio tower has the OK signal

["Rob Atkinson, K5UJ" <k5uj@hotmail.com>]

another PRB1 victory of sorts...de rob/k5uj:


Ham radio tower has the OK signal
Wheaton says it can't deny request

By Bob Goldsborough
Special to the Tribune
Published September 23, 2004

Despite opposition from neighbors in [west] Wheaton, a proposed 42-foot-high
ham radio tower can be built in a resident's back yard under federal law 
without any
sign-off from local officials.

John Siepmann, given the go-ahead recently by the city attorney, has been
pitted against dozens of neighbors in the Farnham subdivision, many of whom 
have "NO RADIO
TOWER" yard signs.

Opponents believe the tower would be an eyesore, a safety hazard and a
potential interference to their television and telephone reception.

Siepmann, an amateur ham radio operator, first approached city officials
requesting a zoning variation to allow him to build a 65-foot-high 
free-standing tower in
the back yard of his Browning Court home. An initial look at the zoning code 
suggested the
maximum height of such a structure could be 12 feet.

After reviewing Federal Communications Commission requirements, which
pre-empt municipal regulations and force local communities to be "reasonably 
accommodating" to
amateur ham radio operators, city officials concluded they have no choice 
but to allow a
tower of up to 42 feet, said city planner Brad Boese.

That height was determined by adding Wheaton's 12-foot height limit for
antennas that sit atop houses to the 30-foot height limit for single-family 
houses, Boese said.

"`Reasonable accommodation' isn't really defined anywhere, so what we have
to go by is what other communities in the area have permitted," he said.

Siepmann has deferred his request for a zoning variation for the 65-foot
tower, which would require City Council approval, until Oct. 12, and is 
asking for a
building permit to allow a 42-foot-high tower. That request, submitted Aug. 
19, is pending,
with the Building Department having sent drawings of Siepmann's proposed 
tower to a local
structural engineer for evaluation, said Joe Kreidl, director of building 
and code
enforcement.

Meanwhile, Siepmann's attorney, James O'Connell, said Wheaton's present
ordinance doesn't meet federal requirements. He cited other communities that 
allow ham radio
tower height limits of 65 feet or more. Unincorporated DuPage County, which 
is
immediately to the west of Siepmann's property, has a ham radio tower height 
limit of 100 feet, O'Connell said.

With a 42-foot limit, Wheaton officials "are wrong under the amateur radio
law," O'Connell said.

"We may very well petition the City Council to create an ordinance that
meets federal requirements," he said. "I can't tell you what Mr. Siepmann 
will eventually
decide to do. I recommended to him that he take the city up on its offer to 
issue him a
42-foot permit on the grounds that something right now is better than doing 
six months'
worth of hearings, which can be very expensive. We are prepared to do that 
if we have
to."

Ham radio towers need to be tall, O'Connell said, so hobbyists can
communicate clearly with fellow radio operators around the globe.

"If you want to be able to talk internationally, you need to have your
antenna above ground and above the surrounding trees," he said. "[Siepmann's 
neighborhood]
is a wooded area."

Siepmann's neighbors wish the entire issue would go away. Bill Robertson,
spokesman for the neighborhood group that opposes the tower, said it could 
reduce property
values.

"Anybody living in a nice suburb today would assume that their neighbor
couldn't put up a 65-foot tower in their back yard, but they'd be wrong," 
Robertson said. "The
federal government in its infinite wisdom interceded years ago on behalf of 
a small
minority of radio operators when they might have been relevant to some 
national
emergency and defense.

"Now they're not, but the government hasn't gotten around to amending the
law," he said. "We're hoping the city will find a court or a judge who would 
say that this
is passe, and that it's no longer reasonable to expect a city to provide 
this kind of
accommodation to a hobbyist."

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