Walton County ZBA OKs three sheriff’s-office tower variances after debate over notice, height and value

The Walton County Zoning Board of Adjustment voted May 28 to approve three variances allowing towers for a Walton County Sheriff’s Office public-safety radio network, after applicants and staff said the structures are needed to restore reliable radio coverage.

Aaron Garnett, an attorney for Baker Donaldson representing the applicant, told the board the project is a public–private partnership to build roughly 15 towers for an interoperable P25 radio network and that the Blue Mountain, Oakwood Hills and Pleasant Ridge sites require setback or height relief to function as designed. “These towers are designed to fall within the compound,” Garnett said, and he asked the board to incorporate testimony from prior hearings into the record.

City Switch Towers’ Kevin Sasso, the company’s vice president for development and program director of the Walton County P25 deployment, described site selection and engineering constraints, saying the footprint and height for each tower are driven by signal propagation and network design. “In this area, 305 feet is the minimum height for a public-safety radio system,” Sasso said, explaining why some sites require taller structures than typical commercial monopoles.

Walton County Chief of Emergency Services Tracy Voss described field incidents in Pleasant Ridge in which deputies lacked radio coverage; Voss recounted a resident who said her husband “would sit in the driveway and try to call out of service on his radio” and could not reach dispatch, illustrating the “need” for improved coverage.

That need was sharply contested by Pleasant Ridge residents who said the tower’s proposed 305-foot height, its siting adjacent to an historic church and the speed of mailed notice left neighbors unprepared to weigh options. Veronique McCann, who said she and her husband own 80 acres near the proposed Pleasant Ridge location, urged the board to give residents more time and to consider shorter towers that would only serve the sheriff’s office: “Does it need to be 300 feet? I don’t think so,” she said, adding she worries about lasting aesthetic and property-value effects.

County staff and applicant counsel produced technical exhibits to address those concerns: an FAA “no hazard” letter, a fall-zone engineering letter stamped by a structural engineer and a valuation review the applicant described as evidence that similar towers have not reduced surrounding property values. Staff also produced proof-of-mailing showing notices were mailed May 12 and described the county’s notice thresholds (newspaper 21 days, sign 14 days, letters 10 days). The board reopened the evidence record to let staff confirm the mailing receipts.

Most commissioners framed the decision as a balance between public-safety benefits and residents’ due-process concerns. Several said residents retain remedies — including a statutory appeal — if notice or procedure prove deficient. After deliberation the board approved the Blue Mountain and Oakwood Hills variances and, following public testimony and staff verification of notice, approved the Pleasant Ridge variance. Commissioners noted the decision produces a 30-day appeal window that begins after the final order is signed and recorded.

What’s next: the applicants will work with county staff to enter exhibits into the record and the county will issue final orders; opponents can file an appeal within the 30-day statutory period after the order is recorded.