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Tower issue coming
back
By Alyson Matley
amatley@keynoter.com
Commission gives
attorney more time
It's been two years
since the residents of Cudjoe Key shared a collective sigh of relief.
Two years since then-County Attorney Jim Hendrick told the Monroe County
Commission they had seen the end of plans for a nearly 1,000-foot tower
proposed for that island.
It turns out the
issue is far from over.
The County Commission on Wednesday was asked to
consider settling a lawsuit in a dispute over the 970-foot
communications tower that's been looming over the island since 1999,
when Industrial Communications and Electronics sought a permit for the
massive construction.
David Paul Horan, attorney for the company, told
commissioners that the U.S. Coast Guard is in need of a tower or towers
in the Lower Keys to increase the agency's ability to receive radio
signals, and that Industrial Communications would be willing to share
its tower with the agency.
He had no proof,
but Horan said that although the Coast Guard is not considering a
1,500-foot tower on Cudjoe - something he originally cited when he
proposed the settlement - it could still be looking to locate "multiple
500-foot towers" in the Lower Keys. Because he did not have a letter
confirming that, Horan asked that the whole issue be continued until the
commission meets in July. The commission agreed.
Attorney Lee Rohe was one of seven speakers
vehemently opposed to the tower and any settlement that would allow its
erection. Rohe said there is no reason for the commission to settle,
since two courts have already found in the county's favor in denying the
tower.
Shortly after the tower was first proposed in
1999, the county drafted an ordinance that limits communications towers
to 199 feet. The law allows variances in certain circumstances for up to
330 feet.
Industrial
Communications has been challenging both the temporary moratorium the
county first enacted while drafting the height restriction, and then the
ordinance itself. |
