Citizens Voice Concerns about Communication from County on Cell Tower

BRADENTON – It was a staff recommended house-keeping edit for the cell tower ordinance in yesterday’s meeting, but that didn’t stop residents from giving the commission an earful. The fact of the matter is that the whole episode could have been avoided with better communication from the county. The board unanimously approved the motion 5-0 (commissioners McClash and Brown were absent).

In the last two years, the east county populace has opposed the development of telecommunication towers in residential areas. In February, the Manatee County Board of County Commissioners joined their efforts by adopting a new ordinance that makes it clear the county prefers cell tower developers look first to non-residential areas to provide coverage to customers. The approval supposedly defined the process more clearly and made the procedure more public. For that reason, residents were shocked to hear that a new tower ordinance was on yesterday’s agenda – yet they had never been notified.

”Residents and communities have been vocal activists in cell tower issues,“ said Madison Chapman, participant in the group Palm-Aire’s Homeowners Against the Tower. ”Many leaders have been identified in order to facilitate communication, yet they were never notified. You say you welcome proactive public participation, however, most of us feel unwelcome and discouraged when you don’t include us in decisions that can greatly impact our lives.“

In a press release to the Bradenton Times, group founder Deborah Chapman claimed that members tried for over a week to contact staff but received no reply.

According to a memo from the organization, the proposed changes could eliminate what many believe to be one of the strongest residential protections of the new code, namely the part that requires the tower company to provide an affidavit stating that placement on alternative sites would have the effect of preventing cellular service.

Staff assured them that this was a misunderstanding, a language clean-up and nothing more. They said that they hadn’t contacted them or the tower company because they didn’t feel there was any real reason to do so.

”We read this as a pro-active change. We were criticized before on lack of predictability when a new cell tower came in, said John Osborne of the Manatee County Planning Department. ”Some of the changes in the draft ordinance today should fix it. I apologize to each one of you today because our intent is to strengthen the code and give better protection to the citizens out there.“

Commissioners approved the ordinance, but omitted the most concerning aspect  from their amendments.

”This code amendment is not industry driven. This is a county-shaped code amendment,“ said Sarah A. Sclrenk, deputy county attorney.