W3YNI Tower permit again appealed

Chuck's not out of the woods yet...

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribunereview/news/westmoreland/s_591859.html
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Ham radio tower permit again appealed
By Paul Paterra, TRIBUNE-REVIEW, Monday, October 6, 2008

A Penn Township man's renewed effort to erect a 53-foot ham radio tower at his home is facing another challenge from neighbors.

Charles Mills of 60 Regola Drive, who faced opposition from nearby residents, was reissued a permit in September by the township after making some modifications to the original plan for the tower in his back yard.

Some neighbors initially appealed the issuance of a permit in March, feeling the tower was not properly screened. That appeal was upheld when the zoning hearing board ruled the first permit invalid.

Another appeal was filed last week after the permit was reissued.

John Ducar, a neighbor who lives at 4 Oakridge Drive, did not want to comment on the appeal other than to say, "We filed an appeal because we feel the township has not performed its duty in protecting the local community."

The appeal could possibly end up on the agenda when the zoning hearing board convenes Nov. 11.

"They met their deadline (to file an appeal). They missed our deadline for advertising for the hearing (to be held in October)," said Dallas Leonard, community development director. "It could potentially be heard in November. I heard they're still trying to work on an amicable solution."

Attorney Mike Lazaroff, who represents Mills, a 21-year ham radio operator, expects to be back before the zoning hearing board in November.

"Their appeal is frivolous," Lazaroff said. "It's unfortunate they have chosen to pursue this in an unreasonable manner. We have addressed all the concerns raised by the zoning hearing board. We've complied fully with all ordinances."

Lazaroff maintains that the right to have the tower is protected by a Federal Communications Commission ruling, which holds that local governments must reasonably accommodate amateur radio antennas.

"The people appealing are attempting to deny Mr. Mills his rights under federal law," Lazaroff said. "We will prevail. We have federal law on our side. It's unfortunate neighbors have chosen to embroil the township in a legal battle that's going to cost the township a lot of money."

Paul Paterra can be reached at ppaterra@tribweb.com or 724-836-6220.

 

===John Ducar, a neighbor who lives at 4 Oakridge Drive, did not want to comment on the appeal other than to say, "We filed an appeal because we feel the township has not performed its duty in protecting the local community."===

I would like to ask this John Ducar and all the others ... How did the township NOT perform its duty in PROTECTING THE LOCAL COMMUNITY? Protect the local community --- from what?

If they don't know it, they should be told that they will receive more protection from the ham radio operator ... especially if that ham is involved with ARES/RACES, SKYWARN, STORM SPOTTING, etc.

But, there are some people who have to make a fuss ... if not about an antenna tower then something else. These people are just not happy until they put up a cry about something. I hope they lost their appeal.

 

Yep, that quote just proves the sentiment that I expressed several months ago - that the sole desire of the neighbors was not to accomodate or to reach a common ground, but instead to make it as humanly difficult for W3YNI to get his permit.

Thats why I have always argued its better to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission - especially when it comes to nose up a$$ neighbors.

 

almost home now

I LOOK FORWARD to Hearing You on the bands with your NEW antenna system SOON !


Joey

 

I am building an apartment in Winnipeg.

12 neighbors are going against me, even though I tore down a dump and am improving the area.

Those people are EVERYWHERE.

 

Hmm. Are you going to allow Towers?

 

First, I must object to the "do it 1st ask later" in this case. Heres why :

If you go without permission, you can no longer claim to be law abiding and you
actually enhance the case against you.

The other reason to be careful is that the city agency can rule against you and
order the tower removal which they will almost always do if you go without
permits. If you refuse to take the tower down, they can send a crew in to do it for
you, cops to keep you at gunpoint as the crew tears down your tower, and
garnish your income untill all costs are repaid.
After that, forget being able to try again ther legal way.

I have helped other hams with their tower permit woes in the past.
I have been through this a few times.

The major 2 arguments that we have to deal with are :

1) Radio transmitters cause cancer

2) It might fall over and hurt my property

and

3) Its ugly, it will lower my property values

Fact is, while i think a well done tower is hot & sexy, most non radio people dont.
The neighbor has a point, they are risking losing property value when they sell.

The community service thing seldom helps bring neighbors over to the supportive side if they fear property value loss.

I can debunk the cancer link, usually
I can explain why it WONT fall over.

One I helped on, it turns out that oine of the local em-com bigshots was
responsible for the "No giant antenna towers in our neighborhood"
This same em-com guy had a tower of his own, by the way.
This was the 1st time I saw a ham preventing another ham from getting a tower.

It was a nasty hearing.
I pointed out that the building dept had already OKed the tower and a professional
tower firm had been retained to install it. I publicly thanked the ham for his
ham radio service so far. The emcom guy who advised the CERT teams said ham
radio was obsolete and satellite phones were the way to go.

The way it ended, I reminded the city that they had already permited it, and between the law and the existing permit, the risked being sued and losing.
Plannign comission finally told him the tower could go ahead once the
neighborhood came to an agreement.

The emcom guy had the balls to show up at field day the next year and I threw
him off the site. He died a year later and when his estate took down his tower,
the other guys tower could go up because the net increase in towers didnt
change.

I told you it got nasty sometimes.....

The best way I can think of to make this work is before the neighbors know you
want a tower, found a CERT team. Then work through the CERT team to build a
case for the tower. Make them thinmk the tower is THEIR idea.

 

You will prevail in this issue

Now should be able go after all those ( bizzy body neighbors & township ) for you to finance legal counsel to fight for your right's as a ham radio operator.

Hopefully our wonderess fcc will stand up and say to your township and all your neighbors to bad so sad. He is with in his / her right's to put up a structure to hold his / her antenna's at any given height.

Talk to you soon on the air with your NEW Antenna System...

73's KD8IKM

 

rural area

That's what I love about living in a rural area in Alabama. I have nothing to worry about but federal rules and regulations. I, personally, am not going to live in an area where policy is dictated by a group of EDUCATED people that are supposed to know whats best for all. Not ME. Where I live, no one has the authority to tell me what I can or can't do(with exception given to the FCC of course). All this should be looked into before buying a house or property in a restricted neighborhood. At least where I am at, If anything changes, I will be grandfathered in and cant be touched!!! This is the first time I have ever posted here. So if my comment offend anyone i am sorry. Please do send the next 3 or 4 replies telling me how stupid I am and correcting my grammer. I really do not care!!!! you will be wasting your time.

 

Sheepeople

Once again the Sheepeople ( those are people in a herd being led by ring through nose) have united to prevent one good American HAM from using his property as he sees fit. The ham has followed the legal path and it is still not enough to make the sheepeople happy. People if you want to live in a place where you are told what you can do and when you will do it without any rights to your property then move to any of a hundred countries they will be more than happy to put their thumbs on your little head and force you to do what they will.

I for one wish to go back to the good old way doing things. I do what I want on my property and you do what you want on yours and *&^%$#)) anyone that does not like it.

This is America people stand up for your rights or lose them.

I am with NQ4R.

 

Hogwash,

In 1990, I bought property in Yorktown Virginia shortly after being employed by NASA Langley.

I did it right. I surveyed, I planned, I consulted professionals and I obtained a use permit and a variance permit. I installed everything according to the plan and then someone complained, someone living near me, someone with clout.

After everything was installed (100' Rohn 45G with 3 5el Hy-Gain Yagis) the city came back and said they made a mistake. They claimed the setbacks were incorrect in the original plan and my guy wires were too close to the street (set back 25') and too close to my fence (set back 5') in the rear of the property.

The thing turned into a legal battle which thank goodness, the ARRL and Chris Imlay came to my assistance. In the end, they knew they were in trouble but they wanted to get in a last poke in the eye, so they said they would waive the setbacks (to which I already complied) if I would remove 10 foot from the 100' tower. This required me to remove three 5 el monobanders, a 21' mast, an 8' top section and a ten foot section, plus fix the guy lengths and put everything back, and for what? It changed nothing visibly, nothing for safety, nothing with guy anchor locations.

End result. The city of Yorktown and I spent a lot of cash fighting and the complainer had an extra 50 foot of his drive past my house with trees blocking his view of the tower.

When I moved to KY, I called the city, told them what I wanted to do, they laughed and said forget it. We'll never issue you a permit. Besides, you have to have a hearing in front of your neighbors and we have denied every request for ten years...blah blah blah.

So, I put it up without a permit. Two days later, there was the city, snapping pictures, taking measurements, writing stuff down.

The very next day they came and asked me to see my permit. I handed them a copy of PRB-1, along with a photocopy of my license. I told them I had a Federal permit.

The guy then proceeded to say, "Well, perhaps you're right, with that license you don't need a local permit (LOL) for the tower, but you do need an electrical permit for that motor on the tower" He was pointing to my HDX55 motorized tower.

I replied, "I agree, the motor would need an electrical permit, IF I had wired it permanently to electricity". I then walked him to my external building and proceeded to drag my heavy duty extension cord from the building to the tower, and plug it in.

He scratched his head, chuckled and said "I guess you're good to go" and left.

Three years later and I haven't heard a word from the city and my closest neighbor said she is just happy I didn't sell the lot to a local builder!

Asking permission from your neighbors to enjoy your own property is un-American! The only reason it is law is because YOU allow it to be!

David ~ KY1V
2004 Amateur of the Year

 

Neighbors need to mind their own bussiness.

Why don't his neighbors just leave him alone and let him just have the damn thing and mind their own bussiness?!!!!

 

I'm not arguing that you should defy the law. My point was that given the penchant for neighbors to be busy body asses, you should do the permitting process as needed with the town/city/county and do it - stealthfully.

 

See, this is why I don't understand the "compromise" folks, because the only "compromise" they want is for you not to put up any antenna or tower.

 

Yep. Agreed.