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Resident asks Lincoln County to pursue cell-tower ordinance to protect Cabinet Mountain Wilderness viewshed
Summary
A resident urged commissioners to direct planning staff to draft an ordinance regulating cell-tower siting after a T-Mobile tower was erected in the viewshed of the Cabinet Mountain Wilderness; commissioners acknowledged the request but recorded no directive on the transcript.
Jennifer Nelson, who identified herself during public comment, asked the Lincoln County commissioners on July 1 to direct county planning staff to draft an ordinance addressing placement and siting of cell towers.
Nelson said a large T-Mobile tower was built on private property within the viewshed of the Cabinet Mountain Wilderness and expressed concern about the tower’s visibility and likely lighting. “It’s a travesty in my opinion to have a cell tower in the viewshed of the Cabinet Mountain Wilderness,” she told the board, and asked the commission to consider a process or ordinance to guide future cell-tower development.
Nelson described the tower as tall and lighted because of its height and said similar siting decisions have not gone through a public process in areas visible from Cabinet Mountain Wilderness and nearby private properties. She asked the commission to direct the planning department to prepare an ordinance; the transcript shows commissioners thanked her but did not record a formal direction or vote to draft language during the meeting.
The planning department’s role in tower permitting was noted in later planning discussion items on the agenda; no specific timeline or next steps for an ordinance were entered into the meeting record that day.
