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Stevens County narrows marking rules for temporary meteorological towers, removes daytime strobe requirement
Summary
After a lengthy public hearing with pilots and wind‑project representatives, the Stevens County Board approved enhanced guide‑wire markings for temporary meteorological (MET) towers but voted to remove a county condition requiring daytime strobe lights, citing engineering and manufacturer concerns.
The Stevens County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday amended conditions on a previously approved interim use permit (IUP) for temporary meteorological towers used by wind developers, requiring high‑visibility sleeves and a standard two‑ball marker configuration on outer guy wires while removing a county condition that had required daytime strobe lighting.
The change came after a public hearing in which Tenaska/Cordelio project staff argued that manufacturer guidance and tower design make both a large increase in spherical markers and nonstandard daytime strobes infeasible, and area agricultural pilots urged stricter visibility measures to reduce the risk of collisions.
Jackson Morgan, who identified himself as responsible for the project Tenaska and Cordelio Power are developing in Stevens County, told commissioners that the towers “employ 2 ... aviation orange colored spherical marking balls on each of the 4 outer guy wires for a total of 8 markings” and that the manufacturer, NRG Systems, warned that adding the dozens of extra marking balls requested by the county could “compromise the entire tower…
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