When John Stewart looks out his windows he sees a 200-foot cell tower. Anywhere he goes on his 7.9 acres near Greenville, he sees a 200-foot cell tower.
Despite Steward’s efforts and a campaign mounted by neighbors, Maidu tribal leaders and a coalition of opponents, Verizon Wireless completed construction of the tower in November. Plumas County officials managed to delay the project for several weeks but ultimately had no legal authority to block it.
The controversial construction on Powerline Road forces county officials to deal with their own 2019 telecommunications ordinance, which includes the exemptions that allowed Verizon to build the tower in a residential neighborhood. The ordinance requires no notification to neighbors or the public. It includes no consideration for Native American cemeteries or cultural sites. County officials are in the process of amending the ordinance to prevent similar construction projects with no community input in the future.
2019 ordinance
Telecommunications in Plumas County became a controversy in 2019 when several companies proposed cell towers around the county. While county officials and much of the public recognized the importance of cellular communication, the county had no ordinance to guide siting and construction of cell towers. All that was needed to build one was a simple building permit.
The planning commission developed an ordinance to cover that gap. It included two types of permits. One of them required a certificate stating that the project is in compliance with the zoning. Known as a ministerial permit, it requires no decisions by county officials. The other required a special use permit when the project has the potential to be incompatible with the surrounding area; it involves a public hearing.
The 2019 ordinance was controversial but eventually adopted by the Plumas County Board of Supervisors on a 3-1 vote. Supervisor Jeff Engel and former Supervisors Sherrie Thrall and Michael Sanchez voted in favor. Former Supervisor Lori Simpson cast the lone no vote. Supervisor Kevin Goss was absent but had voted against the ordinance at a previous meeting.
That ordinance is still in effect. It defines standards for the design and placement of telecommunications facilities. It encourages construction in non-residential areas, including forest lands identified as timber production zones, but it does not preclude cell towers on TPZ land next to homes. The ordinance authorizes exemptions to notification standards for cell towers on TPZ land because, the supervisors reasoned, they are generally far from homes and businesses.
The supervisors “let down the public” in 2019, said Josh Hart, a spokesperson for Plumas Wired in an email. They ignored “overwhelming public demand for a strong ordinance, and instead passed a weak ordinance with many loopholes,” he wrote.
The recently-built Verizon cell tower stands on land owned by Sierra Pacific Industries and zoned TPZ. In compliance with the telecommunications ordinance, no notifications to neighbors or the public were issued in advance of the construction. SPI officials did not respond to a request for comment.
The tower site is also adjacent to a cemetery used for centuries by the Washoe family, Mountain Maidu Indians. Neither the Washoe family nor Maidu community leaders were notified of the construction. The 2019 ordinance does not address Native American cultural or sacred sites.
The Plumas County building permit issued Aug. 5 to Verizon Wireless also required no public notification, Ferguson said.
Amendments under discussion
That could now change. On Nov. 18 the supervisors approved a request from Plumas County Planning Director Tracey Ferguson to begin working with the planning commission to develop recommendations for amending the telecommunications ordinance.
The changes will include language that rewrites the section dealing with TPZ lands in proximity to residential areas, said Goss. He is hoping it will require notification to adjacent property owners and the public, and give county officials an opportunity to review the project, he told The Plumas Sun in a telephone interview.
Goss opposed the 2019 ordinance for that very reason, he said: “I didn’t want cell towers in TPZ land close to a town.”
The supervisors will use the amendment process to review the entire telecommunications ordinance to make sure it does not include other loopholes, Goss said.
Too little too late
Any changes are too late and many dollars short for Stewart, the closest neighbor to the cell tower. He estimated a loss of between $70,000 and $100,000 to the value of his property, which lies 15 feet from the new Verizon tower. He intended his property on Powerline Road as an inheritance to his daughter and family.
“Verizon took money right out of my granddaughter’s mouth,” he said.
As angry as he is over the 200-foot tower looming over his land, he reserved his harshest criticisms for county officials. Although Goss and Supervisor Mimi Hall visited the property in September to discuss the construction, he had no additional contact with them, he said. No county official has returned his calls, including Goss, Stewart said.
“I could never get a hold of him. The only ones who ever called me were The Plumas Sun,” he said.
Goss said he visited with Stewart on his property and was “upset alongside him.” He also met with Stewart and Verizon officials. “I may have missed a phone call but we definitely communicated,” said Goss.
Once it became clear that the tower would be built, Stewart proposed painting it green to partially mitigate the visual effects. Contractors were willing, he said, but county officials did not respond.
Goss said he spoke with Verizon officials about green paint and other mitigations. “We did go down those roads… It was all a no go,” he said.
Goss intends to make the telecommunications ordinance revision a priority. “I want to do this as soon as possible. I don’t want other companies to sneak something in,” he said.
“We will work as fast as government can work,” said Goss.
Stewart remains bitter about the cell tower and his communication with county officials, but he has moved on “in my mind and in my heart,” he said.
Source: Plumas Sun
