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Davidson County approves Tillman Infrastructure 160-foot monopole with bond and decommissioning conditions
Summary
After a quasi-judicial hearing with multiple neighbors testifying on access, visibility and property-value impacts, the Davidson County Commission approved a special-use permit for a 160-foot monopole to serve Verizon and other carriers, adding conditions requiring a decommissioning plan and a removal bond to be finalized with county legal staff.
The Davidson County Commission voted Monday to grant a special-use permit for a 160-foot monopole wireless tower proposed by Tillman Infrastructure LLC, approving the request after the required quasi-judicial findings and attaching conditions for a removal bond and a decommissioning plan to be reviewed by county legal staff.
The applicant, represented by John Birchfield of LCC Telecom Services, presented a plan for a 160-foot monopole (170 feet including a lightning rod), a roughly 50-by-50-foot fenced compound, a fall-zone analysis, and balloon-test photographs intended to show limited wintertime visibility from nearby roads and a subdivision. Birchfield said the tower was designed to accommodate at least three carriers and that Verizon proposed relocating its array from a nearby lattice tower for economic reasons.
An independent appraiser, Andrew Baker of Valbridge Property Advisors, summarized a market review of roughly 20 local sites (five usable sales), broker interviews and commercial-sales examples and concluded the data set did not show a consistent negative effect on adjoining property values; his report concluded at minimum that adjoining values should be maintained. Several nearby landowners contested the study's local data, raised right-of-way and access concerns, and described significant visual and safety worries if the tower were built closer to backyards.
In response, Tillman representatives said construction traffic would be temporary, agreed a removal/decommissioning bond was appropriate, and explained monopole failure modes differ from the guyed or lattice towers that have failed elsewhere. County planning staff and counsel reminded the board that local authority is constrained by state and federal law—counties may not regulate RF emissions (an FCC matter)—and that the ordinance requires the board to apply four standards in a quasi-judicial finding.
The board voted through each required standard in turn (Standard 1 was approved 5–1; Standard 2, 6–0; Standards 3 and 4 carried) and then approved the special-use permit with conditions requiring a decommissioning plan and a bond (amount and language to be reviewed by county legal staff and updated as needed). The order will be finalized after legal review and returned to the board for issuance.
What happens next: County staff and legal counsel will draft permit language for the bond and decommissioning plan, set the amount and periodic review mechanism, and the final order will be issued after review. Neighbors and the applicant retain administrative rights to appeal according to county procedures.
