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Planning Board approves special-use permit for 300-foot wireless tower near NC Highway 87
Summary
The Rockingham County Planning Board approved a special-use permit for a 300-foot wireless telecommunications tower at 413 NC Highway 87 (case 2025-20) with conditions to require later submittal and third-party review of engineering documents and to preserve existing prescriptive easements for adjacent property owners.
The Rockingham County Planning Board voted to approve a special-use permit for a wireless telecommunications tower proposed at 413 NC Highway 87 (case 2025-20).
Planning staff told the board the site lies in a predominantly Residential Agricultural district and that the application would be accompanied by a third-party engineering review (Kimley-Horn). Staff recommended conditioning approval on receipt and successful review of technical engineering materials — including foundation design and a geotechnical report — that the applicant proposed to provide after the board’s initial approval.
Clark Davidson, representing the applicant, said the company’s propagation maps demonstrate a need for improved coverage along NC 87 and that the tower was sited to remain away from adjacent homes and behind existing vegetation. “We meet all the requirements within the Rockingham County Ordinance and the code,” Davidson said during his presentation.
Neighbors raised concerns about access, the tower’s fall zone and property values. Freeman Mark, an adjacent landowner, asked that the board record a condition to preserve his historic access road, saying he relied on the route to avoid landlocking his 15-acre parcel. Planning staff and the applicant said prescriptive easements by long-term use could be preserved and agreed a condition to maintain any such easement would be included in the board order. Michael Berkowitz, a certified general appraiser who prepared the applicant’s impact study, said comparable sales did not show a meaningful reduction in adjacent property values and concluded the tower “will not substantially enter the value of adjacent or abutting properties.”
Board members asked technical questions about tower height and support type; the applicant said the proposed tower is 300 feet and will employ guy wires, and staff said the fall zone is 305 feet and the closest property line is about 338 feet away. Staff also said the applicant reviewed existing structures within a four-mile radius to determine whether colocation on existing facilities was feasible.
After discussion, the board voted to approve the special-use permit with the condition that outstanding engineering materials be submitted and reviewed by staff and the third-party engineer before full construction permitting, and that prescriptive easements affecting adjacent property owners be preserved in the board order.
The Board of Adjustment action taken tonight is final for the special-use permit; the board’s order will be drafted to include the conditions discussed.
