Madison County board approves 125‑foot wireless monopole permit and joins opioid recovery cooperative grant

The Madison County Board of Supervisors approved a special‑use permit for a 125‑foot wireless communications monopole and authorized county participation in a multi‑year opioid recovery cooperative grant during its meeting.

Chair [Chair (Board of Supervisors)] read case SUDash01Dash26Dash1 and identified Stuart Squire as the applicant; the board heard from an applicant representative that the proposed facility would include a 125‑foot monopole on a 1.782‑acre parcel (Madison County tax map 48‑25) currently zoned R‑1. "We, of course, are requesting your approval of the special use permit, for a wireless communications facility, including a 125 foot monopole," the applicant said. During technical questioning Supervisor Jewett asked whether the site would support high‑band millimeter‑wave equipment; the applicant said the site would use mid‑band frequencies (up to about 3.7 GHz) and that short‑range millimeter deployments are for dense urban areas and are not planned for this rural site.

There was no public comment on the application. Supervisor [speaker 4] moved to approve the special‑use permit as recommended by the planning commission; the board voted by voice and the chair recorded an aye. The motion carried.

On old business the board considered participation in an Offender Aid and Restoration (OAR) cooperative grant tied to opioid abatement funding through the Virginia Opioid Abatement Authority (OAA). County fiscal staff explained three funding columns in the handout: direct settlement distributions to the county, individual OAA locality grant funds that the county must apply for and commit, and a "gold standard" incentive column tied to program pledges. Fiscal staff said Madison's FY27 cooperative grant request was $111,884 and recommended committing Madison's individual OAA funds so the locality does not lose those monies to a fiscal cliff around May 2028.

"The short answer to [whether we have the funds] is yes," the county official said, and described options to mix Madison's individual OAA funds with state cooperative funds so the program can proceed. Legal counsel described the recovery court as a targeted program for certain defendants and expressed support for using opioid‑abatement funds for such programming. A motion to approve Madison's participation in the OAR cooperative agreement and to authorize the county administrator to sign required grant forms was made and seconded; the board voted by voice and the chair recorded an aye, and the motion carried.

The board also heard a public comment suggesting the creation of a water and sewer service district to manage future rezonings; staff said drafts exist and that they "are working on it." The meeting adjourned without further action.

What the board approved will move forward to implementation steps: staff will record the permit in accordance with zoning procedures and the county administrator is authorized to execute the cooperative grant paperwork.