Nottoway approves 300-foot radio tower at health department site for county emergency radio system

The Nottoway County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a special-exception request to build a 300-foot self-supporting communications tower at the county health department site to host the countys P25 public-safety radio network.

County staff and consultants said the tower is critical to linking dispatch into the new radio system and to improving coverage across central and southeastern portions of the county. The project drew public comment and technical questions about visibility, setback waivers and safety before the board voted to grant the requested relief with staff conditions.

Greg Zote, county planning staff, told the board the proposal would place the tower on the health department parcel and asked the board to waive portions of the zoning setbacks under section 4-13-10 of the county zoning ordinance so the tower could sit closer to the existing dispatch complex. Zote said staff recommended approval with conditions including marking the propane tank slab and the drain field in the field and on construction plans and requiring a 10-foot construction setback from the active drain field.

Brian Thomas, a Crewe resident and planning commissioner who spoke during public comment, urged the board to consider alternative sites and to weigh the tower's visual impact. "I feel that the county might be making an egregious mistake in where they're placing this tower," Thomas said, citing examples of existing towers set back well from roadways and neighborhoods and asking the board to avoid a site that would be highly visible from Old Nottoway Road and West Courthouse Road.

Jeremiah Knowles of CTA Consultants, the county's radio-system consultant, said the selected location reduces the need for an additional microwave link and lowers project costs by enabling a fiber connection directly from dispatch to the tower. "This 300 foot tower not only serves as interconnection between the rest of the radio system, but it also will provide coverage to a large area of central and southeastern part of the county," Knowles said. He added engineers have designed the tower to collapse within its own footprint and provided a firms letter that the structure would fall within a roughly 40-foot radius of the tower center.

Level Up Towers representative Steve Money Brown described the Federal Aviation Administration filing that will follow and said the tower would carry a medium dual-intensity lighting system (red night beacon, white day beacon) pending FAA determination. Brown said the FAA filing is expected and that lighting is standard for towers of this size.

Board members pressed staff and consultants on alternatives, on whether the county had examined sites set farther back from roadways or school property, and on the projects potential impact on nearby historic properties. Zote and county staff said they had considered other options but that locations closer to dispatch reduce both equipment and construction costs and avoid the expense of an additional microwave shot and tower. Staff said adjacent property owners were notified for both the planning commission hearing and the board public hearing; Zote said no written objections were received from nearby property owners.

The project includes a secured compound roughly 60 by 80 feet, an equipment shelter to house base-station equipment, a propane generator and an 8-foot anti-climb fence with green slats to soften visual impact. Consultants said the design allows room for up to three additional colocating carriers in the compound, and they emphasized the tower is a self-supporting structure that does not use guy wires. The planning commission recommended approval by a 5-1 vote; the board approved the special exception at the public meeting.

The boards approval is subject to the staffs recommended conditions, and the tower will require subsequent regulatory clearances including FAA notification/approval and other federal and state reviews as applicable (for example, SHPO/Section 106/NEPA processes where required). Construction and final siting must respect the marked drain-field setbacks and other field markings required by the approval.

The tower is intended to become the primary hub in the countys planned microwave chain linking existing towers and to house the countys dispatch radio base stations and emergency antennas. The consultant team said the site choice reduces project complexity and cost compared with using a remote microwave hop or modifying a distant taller tower.

Board members and staff said they will work with the project team to finalize construction documents and regulatory filings before issuing permits. No construction schedule was specified in the public hearing record.