|
Cudjoe Key tower plans resurface
BY TRAVIS JAMES TRITTEN
Citizen Staff Writer
A
Massachusetts company is again pushing plans to build a 970-foot
communications tower — roughly as tall as the Eiffel Tower — on Cudjoe
Key.
The Industrial
Communications and Electronics project was defeated in 2000 after
resident outcry led the county to restrict all new towers to 330 feet.
But the
company is still suing Monroe County in federal court over the
situation, and says there are good reasons to accept a settlement
allowing the controversial tower to be built as planned.
The U.S. Coast
Guard will build its own towers in the Lower Keys — 1,500 feet tall and
up to $10 million each, the company claims — if no space can be found on
existing structures.
"Do we want a
1,500-foot tower instead of a 970-foot tower, and spent $10 million when
you don't have to spend that?" said David Paul Horan, attorney for
Industrial Communi-cations.
Horan also
said the company's tower was supported by Key West police and the Monroe
County Sheriff's Office because it would provide emergency
communications during hurricanes.
Both the Coast
Guard and the Sheriff's Office disputed Horan's justification for the
tower.
"We have no
plans for towers that high," said Lt. Sam Edwards, spokesman for the
Coast Guard. "The normal height for towers we have built so far is 350
feet."
A 1,500-foot
tower could cause a major blackout if it was felled, he said.
The Coast
Guard is planning to revamp its nationwide communications network,
including towers in the Keys, as part of the $611 million Rescue 21
program. The agency has hired a contractor that is surveying the Keys
for tower plans, Edwards said.
The sheriff's
office supported the Industrial Communications project when it was being
developed years ago, but no longer has a use for the tower, said Deputy
Becky Herrin, spokeswoman for the agency.
"We certainly
did have some trouble at that time, but you have to remember we
installed a whole new [communications] system for the city and the
county," Herrin said.
Industrial
Communications lost a bitter battle over the project in 2000.
Opponents who
fear the tower would kill migrating songbirds and blight the view
convinced the county to write new height restrictions that ban any new
towers over 330 feet.
Dennis Henize
and his wife, Tina, live about a half-mile from the old landfill
property where the tower would be built. Henize was a major opponent of
the project in 2000.
"The dang
things are unsightly. It would be visible for quite some distance,"
Henize said. "I don't know many people that like living near
communications towers."
He said the
tower and its guide wires would be deadly to many birds.
The islands
are a major corridor for migrating species of songbirds, said Casey
Lott, staff ornithologist with Audubon of Florida.
"There is
extensive evidence that lighted communication towers, especially tall
ones, can kill huge numbers of birds during migration," Lott said.
Songbirds,
such as warblers, sparrows and thrushes, are most at risk because they
migrate at night and can be pushed to low altitudes by bad weather, he
said.
The lights on
towers disorient the birds, causing them to fly around the structures
and collide with support wires, Lott said. The county's height ordinance
sets most towers at 199 feet — anything taller is required to be
lighted. Variances are available allowing towers to reach 330 feet.
"As many as
5,000 birds have been found under a single tower during a single event,"
Lott said.
Meanwhile,
county commissioners will be asked today to put off further litigation
with Industrial Communications until a settlement can be discussed. The
company lost the most recent federal court decision and is appealing in
the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.
"The
settlement is on the basis that we would build our tower," Horan said.
It is still
uncertain how the county will react to such an offer.
"The county
doesn't stand anywhere right now because we haven't had a chance to
review the proposal," Growth Management Director Tim McGarry said.
Industrial
Communications notified the county of its plans and invested significant
time and money into the project before it was blocked by height
restrictions.
The proposed
tower site was an operating landfill and Industrial Communications spent
nearly $1 million to purchase it, Horan said.
He said that
the company also worked out a tower ordinance with county staff, granted
a conservation easement allowing only a tower on the property and
obtained state permission to place a tower anchor in wetlands. |
