Planning commission recommends approval of Network Towers fiber hub with screening and decommissioning conditions

The Orange County Planning Commission voted to recommend approval of a special-use permit for a fiber utility hub proposed by Network Towers 2 LLC, adding two conditions to require an opaque vegetative buffer around the compound and removal of equipment within one year if the facility ceases being used as a fiber regeneration facility.

The hub would occupy a 98-by-98-foot fenced compound within a 100-by-100-foot leased area on a roughly 146.95-acre parcel near Route 20 east of Mine Run Road (Route 621). Planning staff presented the application (SUP202400327) and a draft resolution (Resolution 25-01) recommending five standard conditions including paving the first 50 feet of the access road, a permanent stormwater conveyance channel, landscaping and fencing per the concept plan, and compliance with highway entrance spacing standards.

Drew Patterson, director of Network Towers, said the facility is a signal-regeneration site used to “boost the fiber signal” every roughly 40 miles and that the applicant had designed the site…