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Planning commission approves amendment to allow engineered "fall‑zone" setbacks for towers
Summary
The Florence City Planning Commission voted at its March meeting to approve a text amendment to the Unified Development Ordinance that lets tower setbacks be measured from an engineer‑certified fall zone rather than the tower’s full height; Duke Energy said the change is needed to replace a near‑end‑of‑life tower on North Douglas Street.
The Florence City Planning Commission voted at its March meeting to approve a text amendment to the city’s Unified Development Ordinance that would let developers measure required setbacks for tower and antenna structures from an engineer‑certified fall zone rather than from the full height of the tower.
The change was requested by Duke Energy so the utility can replace an existing, near‑end‑of‑life guyed tower on North Douglas Street with a newer, self‑supporting structure and still meet setback rules. Planning staff said the amendment would apply to the section of the code that currently requires a separation “equal to 1 foot for each 1 foot in height measured from the property line.”
Why it matters: the existing language effectively requires a 300‑foot setback for a 300‑foot tower; Duke Energy said modern engineered towers are designed to “fold in on…
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