Appeals filed to stop internet towers

BONNERS FERRY—Two appeals seeking to stop the construction of two wind powered towers designed to provide high-speed Internet to most Boundary County residents were filed last week.

The Boundary County Planning and Zoning Commission last month approved construction of the towers.  One is located on Lightning Rock, reached by a logging road off Ginger Lane north of Bonners Ferry, the other on Round Mountain in Highland Flats.

While it hasn't been formally resolved, it is likely that county commissioners will hold public hearing on both appeals at the same time, on the morning of Sept. 27 in the extension office meeting room.

In public hearing, everyone interested in the matter can speak, and to submit written evidence or comment, whether they're in favor of the matter, uncommitted, or opposed, prior to a decision being made.

The first appeal, filed Thursday by Daryl and Sandra Mong with a petition bearing 21 signatures, contends that the applicant building the tower, Eric and Linda Lederhos, owners of E.L. Automation, don’t have the permission of property owners to use Ginger Lane to access the remote site.

They state that the private road exists for the purpose of ingress and egress for those owning property along the road, and not as a thoroughfare or conveyance for any other purpose.

The appeal also contends that the application lacked sufficient detail to clearly depict the nature of the proposed use, that public notification of the planning and zoning commission hearing was faulty in that a sign, which was supposed to have been posted on the property one week prior to the hearing, was placed on the wrong property, and that adequate public services to accommodate the proposed use are lacking.

In his staff report responding to the appeal, zoning administrator Mike Weland wrote “it is unclear whether any legally recorded access easements exist as regards Ginger Lane or whether the roadway is a prescriptive easement available for use to the general public, to include the applicant.”

He went on to write that the owner of the land upon which the tower is to sit, Marjorie Pinkerton, also gains access to that property via Ginger Lane, and in signing the application for the conditional use permit gave permission for the applicant to use that road as well.

He recommended that anyone offering testimony regarding the use of Ginger Lane be required to provide legal documentation in support of their argument.

As to adequate utilities, by the application, he wrote, the remote sites were to be largely self-contained, generating 75 percent of the power required by wind and battery, the rest by a propane generator at each site rated for use in residential areas.

“The Planning and Zoning Commission determined unanimously that the applicants were providing a much-needed service to be made available to the majority of the residents of Boundary County using green technology,” Weland said.

“These towers are off the grid, they don't have customers coming and going, and they don't require the public utilities most applications need.”

Weland admits he improperly posted the sign on the property. In his report, he writes, “the administrator, using the aerial maps provided by the GIS mapping department, traveled to the most apparent point of access, but, because of the remoteness of the area and the poor condition of the roads and the terrain, was not able either to reach the subject parcel on which the use was proposed or to ascertain the actual parcel boundaries … Due to the location of the property, no surrounding property owners would have seen the sign had the actual property been posted.”

The appeal says that the application should have included drawings clearly showing how the site would be accessed.

Weland said that such data was not required in this case as the site where the towers are to be placed are not meant to be accessed by the general public, but only for routine maintenance by the owner, which he estimated would take place only four times a year.

He recommended to commissioners that for the appeal hearing, an expanded public notification process be used. It will include legal publication, notification letters not only to all property owners within 300 feet of each site, but to all property owners along Ginger Lane. It also will also be posted on the actual parcel on which the towers were to be placed and at the foot of each private road where it intersects with a county road.

On Friday, a second letter of appeal was filed by Ingrid Pavia, who lives on Ginger Lane.  She raised similar concerns, but added that the Planning and Zoning Commission findings were “reached prematurely, with bias, with prejudice, without proper facts and materials available and/or considered, without regard and limited knowledge for our inherent and constitutional personal safety and health rights, without regard and limited knowledge for our inherent and constitutional property rights.”

She also raised health concerns.

“We have reason to believe some of us have particular sensitivities to the radio frequencies being emitted from these towers based on science that has been acknowledged in several studies conducted throughout the United States and abroad,” she wrote. “Without consideration for these variables, we contend that you have not upheld your responsibility to guarantee our inherent and constitutional rights.”

In responding to her earlier request for a moratorium to be enacted, county commissioners concluded that a moratorium had been enacted in the wake of applications to erect cellular phone system towers in Boundary County, and that ordinances had been enacted so as to protect the public health and welfare.

As the Planning and Zoning Commission established as a condition of approval that the applicant provide documentation of compliance with all ordinance requirements, which include meeting standards set by both the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Aviation Administration, commissioners unanimously concluded that no moratorium was required.

While applicable to all wireless communications facilities on towers 40 feet tall or higher, those ordinances were designed for high-energy applications, to include cellular telephone service.

In the application approved, the transmitting antennas are limited to a maximum output, by the FCC, of four watts. By comparison, KBFI Radio, which has served the community since the early 1970s, broadcasts at 100 watts, a very low output that barely sends a signal the breadth of the county.

“A standard night light needs more power than we will,” Eric Lederhos said.

Lederhos is an electrical engineer who has long served the translator board and helped improve television and radio coverage in Boundary County, he said he is familiar with the risks, both real and supposed.

“If I was concerned that these towers would affect the health of anyone,” he said, “I would not put them up. These towers operate at such low power and frequency and with so little potential health risk, they rate at the bottom of the FCC's level of concern.”

“I understand and appreciate the concerns of the appellants,” Weland said.  “I work with and advise appellants no differently than I do with any applicant for a permit that requires public hearing. In this application, I admit I made mistakes because I initially told the applicant, based on a phone conversation, that he didn't need a permit to put up a windmill. When I found out for certain what the windmills were powering and that I'd messed up, I informed the applicant of my mistake and he stopped work and went through the proper county process and received the appropriate permit. I think the system worked, and that concerns are being address. That's the beauty of our local land use planning system; we try to keep it simple and affordable and we have checks and balances in place so that if any part of the system breaks, be it with me, the planning and zoning commission or even the board of county commissioners, those who don't agree with a decision can air their concerns and get a second or even third opinion.”

Information on both the application and the appeals is available for public review in the planning office, Room 16 at the County Courthouse, as well as on-line on the county website, http://www.boundarycountyid.org/legals/index.htm, or by calling (208) 267-7212 during normal business hours.