The problem isn't whether towers are actually a problem (I think the
issue is with towers that are lighted, by the way), but whether it
can be used to inspire a local planning official to think it *might*
be a problem, to which the universal answer will be: "Do a study to
prove it's not, and then we'll consider your application."
This is, in many ways, no different than other strategies that have
been used to deal with what is primarily an aesthetic issue. "Oohh,
that cellsite is going to radiate me" (but you'll pry my cellphone
from my cold dead fingers). "Oooh,that ham tower is going to collapse
during the next hurricane and maim small children who are hopping
backyard fences on their way to school. Can't we think of the children?"
As another poster pointed out, one way to approach the problem is to
try and separate "hobby" type activities from "commercial". It would
be a shame if all personal activities were to be regulated as if they
were commerical businesses. For instance, as someone reloading your
own ammunition,or, for instance, fooling with muzzle loading rifles,
you could go out and buy 10 pounds of black powder and legally store
it in your bedroom closet (legally, not intelligently!) But, as
someone with a Federal "powder card" (i.e. a license to buy and use
explosives) one would have to have a magazine, paperwork, etc. to get
even a 1 pound can. (Last time I did something like this was
pre-2000, so the rules might have changed). Likewise, at home you
can pour all manner of hazmat down the drain at home (heck, you can
buy corrosive chemicals specifically intended to be put down the
drain at the supermarket), but at a business, putting anything other
than clean water down the drain is probably criminal. Certainly, a
corrosive would have to be handled as hazmat, with paperwork, spill
containment, licensed haulers and disposal, etc.
On the other hand, given today's litigious society, it's just the way
cities are going. The officials find it's much safer to immerse
yourself in paper and hearings so that nobody can say, "We didn't
know it would be like that." If you want total freedom, you have to
move WAY out in the country (and then hope the city doesn't grow out
to meet you...).
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