Last December, the Flagler County Commission approved building five new cell towers in the county, two of them reaching up to 350 feet. Last week, the commission approved raising a third tower from its previously approved height of 199 feet to 320 feet–and to build that tower with Volusia County. The tower is to be located on 20 acres at 1250 South Old Dixie Highway. (The three tallest towers will rise higher than the Statue of Liberty.)
The tower is part of the county’s planned new bakbone for its emergency communications system, which is being modernized through a Motorola contract at a cost of $15 million and will include a total of six towers. The system serves all county and city radio communications, including fire, police, transportation, utilities, code enforcement and other administrative uses. Palm Coast, Flagler Beach, Bunnell and the Sheriff’s Office all use the system. It is the county’s responsibility to finance it and maintain it. It last upgraded the system at the beginning of the last decade.
The number, height and ownership of cell towers had been a sticking point. In 2015, the county proposed three 350-foot towers that would be build by Jacksonville-based NexTower Development Group. But the plan was derailed over concerns about height and locations: a tower planned for John Anderson Highway mobilized Flagler Beach against it. And though NexTower would assume the cost of the projects, leasing space on the towers proved less attractive than owning the towers outright. The plan was scrapped.
The new plan has the county contracting to build the five towers, which it will own, leasing space to providers and presumably making money from the deals instead of paying $170,000 a year to lease space, as it does not. The other 350-foot towers will go up at Cody’s Corner at State Road 11 and at State Road 100 and County Road 305, both on county-owned property. A 250-foot tower will go up at Matanzas Woods Parkway near I-95, near a higher tower already there. An existing 250-foot tower at the county jail will be replaced. And a new, 160-foot tower near the Government Services Complex will go up.
The tower approved last week had begun as a 199-foot tower at 1600 South Old Dixie, where it drew some opposition. The change in location neutralized some of that opposition, as did a joint approach with Volusia County. Volusia needed the tower to be taller to serve its needs, and for it to be moved a certain distance. Hasd the two counties not worked out a joint agreement, Volusia would have had to erect its own tall tower not far from Flagler’s.
“Thus we have both decided to work together at this site to lessen the number of towers needed, as well as allow for cost efficient interoperability between our counties,” Jarrod Shupe, the county’s innovation technology director, wrote in a two-page explanation of the county’s plan. “The submittal provides for the county to install antennas higher than existing towers–thereby providing significantly better signal in area[s] currently experiencing poor coverage.”
The Old Dixie Highway tower is designed to accommodate up to six wireless service providers or users. The lowest 50 feet of the tower would be painted forest green. The remaining portion would be painted blue or gray, and lighting on the tower will be shielded so as to reduce its downcast effect to the greatest extent possible.
“We are asking them to pick up the cost for the additional expense above the 199 feet to get it to the 320,” County Administrator Craig Coffey said. The original cost to the county would have been roughly $800,000. The additional height would add half a million dollars: that would be Volusia’s share. “We both will have tenants at the top, we both may have tenants lower.”
The planning board’s hearing drew just one public comment. David Haas, a former Flagler county administrator who’s long since been with ICI Homes, the developer of Plantation Bay among many other properties, said there’d been initial concerns with the tower but those were addressed. The tower is expected to improve cell reception in Plantation Bay, assuming a cell provider or two take up residents on its tripod. The tower will not be latticed. Ranked at a Risk Category III, it is designed to collapse “by folding along the face opposite the failed leg of the tripod,” according to a staff report. “Structurally, this is the minimally intrusive, yet strongest tower design option.” The tower, built to withstand up to 160-mile per hour winds, will not be guyed, meaning that no guy lines will be stretched to ensure its stability. It will be lit in compliance with Federal Aviation Administration rules.
Jane Gentile-Youd, a Plantation Bay resident–and current county commission candidate–who’d previously opposed the lower tower, had no opposition to the new version.
“It’s been an ordeal with this tower,” Gentile-Youd wrote Planning Director Adam Mengel on Oct. 9, “first the change in location–the light issue and now a new height, taller than ever.” But for all her previous opposition, Gentile-Youd said she would not oppose the proposal as long as neighboring property owners did not, and as long as the tower is painted in such a way as to blend with surrounding trees.
The county’s planning board took up the tower matter the same evening and unanimously approved the plan, as did the county commission last week: the county was seeking a special exception, permitting it to exceed existing height limits for cell towers.
Jane Gentile-Youd says
Thank you FlaglerLIve once again for taking important community issues out of the closet .
.My husband Mark and I were successful in convincing the Planning Board to require FAA approved lighting on top of the original proposed 199 feet high tower, which the county claimed that the tower would not need lighting because it was going to be just 1 foot below the lighting requirement!
Our Flagler Airport is in the direct path of and is located less than 5 miles from the proposed tower site .The airport currently has NO RADAR which could be a deadly mix in the event a bad storm even if the pilots /planes were instrument rated. Additionally the entire area is surrounded by single family homes.
Only upon confirmation from the county staff that the revised taller tower would have top rated FAA lighting, and would be paid for by Volusia for the additional cost, would be painted green instead of brown and most importantly that all nearby home and property owners were individually notified and that no objections were filed did Mark and I agree to rescind our original objections. We were also assured that the FAA approved necessary lighting installed would not shine into anyone’s homes day or night.
It is an unfortunate reality that communication towers are a necessary evil in our world today Doctors , emergency services, cell phone carriers, and everyone using a cell phone depend upon these awful looking towers. Public safety is of vital importance – our EMS (Emergency Medical Services) would be negatively affected without these ugly towers but saving lives (without risking others) takes precedence above all else.
Dave says
Many counties and cities around the country have halted construction on these towers after new evidence has proven grave health concerns for citizens with the frequencies coming out of these towers. Please people dont let them fool you, much like a factory spewing dangerous toxins that register just under federal regulations but still causing health problems to the people around it. Money makes the world go round, money makes the world go down.
Yellowstone says
I am curious how this ‘let the cell provider own the tower’ versus ‘city/county owns the tower and lease out’ came about.
Seems a few years ago I mentioned this concept at a time the city/county was in the throes of the former.
So, in the 3-years that I have been out of town, how did this more favorable outcome happen?
Percy's mother says
There go the property values at Plantation Bay and Halifax Plantation.
Between the toxic water and the high EMF frequencies emanating from the proposed cell tower, I would imagine cancer rates will skyrocket along with other insidious health issues which will be put down to “old age”.
By the way . . . not to mention throwing the EMFs from Smart Meters into the mix.
It’s just like the new Latitude Margaritaville on LPGA being built right next to high tension power lines that no one has noticed yet but which are in plain sight.
Future health disasters already in the making.
gmath55 says
Do cellular phone towers cause cancer?
Some people have expressed concern that living, working, or going to school near a cell phone tower might increase the risk of cancer or other health problems. At this time, there is very little evidence to support this idea. In theory, there are some important points that would argue against cellular phone towers being able to cause cancer.
Do cellular phone towers cause any other health problems?
High levels of RF waves can cause a warming of body tissues, but the energy levels on the ground near a cell phone tower are far below the levels needed to cause this effect. So far, there is no evidence in published scientific reports that cell phone towers cause any other health problems.
http://www.emfexplained.info/?ID=25821
Stretchem says
5G + 4,000 low earth orbit satellites. Towers like this will be scrap metal in just a few years.
Dave says
This is so bad for anyone living near those towers. Dont believe the idea that these towers are harmless. The frequencies coming out of these towers are known to be dangerous for years
woody says
Bait and switch.
Bill says
@Jane Gentile-Youd
” We were also assured that the FAA approved necessary lighting installed would not shine into anyone’s homes day or night.”
Just how would a Flashing RED light meant to be seen by planes at 200′ be shining into ones home?? Is this site near a building some 200′ tall?
Jane Gentile-Youd says
To Bill
County staff said lights would shine bright enough into people’s homes as an excuse to ask for a light waiver in their original 199 foot tall application
Matt says
And the total ignorance of naming places “Plantation” is even worse. I’d never live in such a disgusting place.
Matt says
They were saying the same thing in 2001.
Matt says
They don’t flash, they just glow red. The flashing ones were so obtrusive, you don’t see them anymore. It’s just a red glow to make sure helicopters and planes see it. The fact they wanted to save a few bucks and not install one originally makes them look really bad. As does the lack of reviewing these stories for typos before publishing them. It would take but a few minutes.
Matt says
Do you use electricity and / or a cell phone?
Because if you do, the towers/antennas / electric transmission lines are to serve YOU! :)
Dave says
So does putting your cell phone to your ear, if you believe that nonsense., In this day and age cell tower are the norm as compared to what once was plain old telephone service that was feed 48 volts from the central office/ remote/pair gain/concentrator to your phone in your home. But that simple technology is going by the wayside as cell phones are now the norm.