Haywood County approves 142‑foot monopine cell tower off Crabtree Road

The Haywood County Board of Commissioners voted to approve a special‑use permit for a 142‑foot monopine (stealth pine) telecommunications tower at a site off Crabtree Road in Waynesville following a quasi‑judicial public hearing.

Development services staff presented the amended application, saying the site’s average tree canopy is 82 feet and that the county telecommunications ordinance allows 60 feet above the average canopy (for a 142‑foot maximum). Jody Perkerson, development services, told the board the applicant identified protected bat habitat and agreed to a conservation restriction not to cut trees during bat pup season — April 1 through Oct. 15 — as part of the application. “They would not cut trees, between April 1 and October 15,” Perkerson said.

Applicant counsel Tom Johnson of Williams Mullen said the tower is a capacity site to relieve overloaded Verizon infrastructure in the Crabtree Road area and would accommodate three colocating carriers. He presented photo simulations and engineering maps to show the monopine design and argued that withdrawing an earlier variance request for a 175‑foot tower and limiting height to 142 feet reduced visual impacts.

County attorney Frank Quinn explained the two findings the board must make in this quasi‑judicial matter — that a bona fide need exists and that no reasonable combination of locations or technologies would obviate the need or mitigate height/visual impact — and asked commissioners to record show‑of‑hands votes on each element. After deliberation the board approved the application and directed development services to issue the special‑use permit. “I move that the application and special use permit be approved as presented,” the motion read; the board’s decision followed that motion and the county attorney said he will prepare a written record of decision for signature.

The applicant’s materials in the development services file included an erosion control plan, a surveyor certification (average tree‑height canopy), photo simulations from multiple vantage points and an impact study that the applicant said found no adverse effect on adjoining property values. Commissioners and the applicant discussed estimated timelines: the applicant said permitting and erosion control reviews, core borings and building permits would precede roughly 60–90 days of construction, followed by carrier equipment installation, for a realistic time to operation of about six months.

The board closed the quasi‑judicial hearing and concluded deliberations the same day, waiving its usual policy to delay voting to a later meeting for this item.