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Planning commission forwards proposal for 100‑foot Cumberland Fire/EMS radio tower to supervisors
Summary
The Planning Commission recommended forwarding a conditional use permit to erect a 100‑foot steel lattice radio tower adjacent to the sheriff’s office at 1492 Anderson Highway to the Board of Supervisors, saying it would enable the county to join the statewide STARS public‑safety radio system.
The Cumberland County Planning Commission voted to recommend approval of a conditional use permit for a 100‑foot steel lattice radio tower at 1492 Anderson Highway, forwarding the application to the Board of Supervisors for final action.
Planning staff told the commission the tower would be located just north‑east of the sheriff’s office property on a 1.32‑acre parcel and would be owned by the Virginia State Police with the county as a tenant. Staff said the location was revised so wiring from the sheriff’s office and dispatch center could connect to the structure and that the tower is intended to allow Cumberland to participate in the Statewide Agencies Radio System (STARS). “If approved, Cumberland will be 1 of 23 agencies across the Commonwealth,” planning staff said.
Staff linked the conditional use permit to the county’s comprehensive plan, citing Goal 14 on emergency services and provisions for interoperable communications. The application requests a waiver to extend the tower’s fall radius to county property boundaries; staff said a structure analysis from KCI Technologies shows a 60‑foot collapse radius and that, if a failure occurred, the tower would collapse onto county‑owned land.
An unidentified speaker who described the STARS network explained the technical rationale for the site selection and said the proposed tower would have line‑of‑sight to the state police’s main tower in Midlothian. That speaker summarized projected coverage on state maps as effectively complete, characterizing the system’s coverage as “a 99.99% coverage rate.”
No members of the public were signed up to speak on the CUP. After discussion and clarification about the fall radius and structural design, a commissioner moved to adopt the CUP recommendation and forward it to the Board of Supervisors with a recommendation for approval; the motion carried on a roll call vote.
Next steps: the Board of Supervisors will receive the Planning Commission’s recommendation and take final action at a subsequent meeting. The planning staff record, zoning code references cited in the presentation (sections 74‑702, 74‑731 through 74‑747 and 74‑736(c)), and the engineering certification from KCI Technologies are part of the application file.
