Milton residents protest cell tower application
More than two years after passing one of the state’s most restrictive cell tower ordinances, Milton is being asked to allow another telecom tower on property abutting two neighborhoods.
American Towers and AT&T want to construct a 140-foot tower on a site off Birmingham Highway. The application has triggered a protest by more than 300 residents in the nearby Triple Crown and Richmond Glen subdivisions.
“The cell company and the landowner have such a head start, and they don’t tell you till the last possible moment,” said Vinnie Politan, whose house stands 210 feet from the proposed tower site. “You’ve got to mobilize as a community because the clock is running.”
The issue arises as the Georgia Legislature considers a bill blasted by local governments for giving telecom companies more leeway in constructing cell towers.
So far, the city has received 15 emails, and the neighborhood has collected more than 300 names on petitions opposing the application.
The matter was scheduled to be discussed at a meeting Tuesday evening of the Design Review Board. However, a city spokesman said AT&T will not be at the meeting because a balloon test conducted at the tower site over the weekend failed because of high winds.
Mayor Joe Lockwood said the application must first pass through the Design Review Board and the Planning Commission before the City Council will consider it. He said the city is bound by federal and state laws to give telecom applications due consideration.
“If we just flat-out deny a cell tower for no specific reason, then it can be challenged,” he said. In some cases, the city might face litigation or be forced to approve any type of tower a company wants.
Milton, known for its passion to preserve its pastoral landscape, passed an ordinance in 2009 requiring telecom companies to pay an annual operating license fee of $1,000 per tower and $1,000 per antenna array. That provision was later suspended after it was challenged in court in Liberty County.
