Board defers Verizon tower conditional-use permit, schedules Dec. 8 special meeting

The Mathews County Board of Supervisors deferred a decision on Verizon’s proposed 195-foot monopole for Guinea Point (application 202500830) and scheduled a special call meeting for Dec. 8, 2025, to resolve outstanding technical and ordinance language.

Planning staff described the proposal: a galvanized monopole with a 4-foot lightning rod on a 10,000-square-foot lease area of an approximately 26.9-acre parcel (tax parcel 4-A-119) to improve voice, data and broadband along State Route 198 and nearby communities. The planning commission recommended approval, subject to conditions including visual screening, VDOT requirements for the entrance (land-use permit and drainage/geometrics), FAA lighting and a clause invalidating the CUP should the tower no longer be used as intended.

Lisa Murphy, counsel to the applicant (Verizon and Towers LLC), outlined a network map showing nearby towers the proposed site would connect to and said co-location was possible but not always feasible on existing structures. Board members asked whether local law enforcement and fire-rescue could co-locate and whether the fire department’s pager system could be accommodated; counsel said the company was amenable to discussing space but noted state law limits localities from conditioning approval on mandatory use of local infrastructure.

Because board members wanted clearer ordinance language, fall-radius/safety data and explicit technical details to support potential first-responder paging or co-location, the board voted to defer action and hold a special meeting on Dec. 8, 2025 (the board settled on Dec. 8 at 3:00 p.m.) to take a final vote. Staff was directed to work with Verizon on language addressing the fall radius, safety measures and the possibility of making space available for emergency communications equipment.