Albemarle board trims historic-area protections and adopts updated wireless ordinance after compromise

The Albemarle County Board of Supervisors on Sept. 4 adopted a revised personal wireless-services ordinance that changes how and where cell facilities must go through administrative review or a special-use permit. The vote followed a long staff presentation, public testimony and multiple straw polls to reconcile coverage and conservation goals.

The board accepted staff’s recommended ordinance as amended to treat as avoidance areas any parcel within 1,500 feet of a property listed individually on the National Register of Historic Places as of Sept. 4, 2024 (excluding parcels that are only contributing by virtue of a historic district listing). It also adopted a forest-block alternative (attachment C, “Alternative B”) restricting new administrative approvals in the county’s highest-scoring contiguous forest blocks — those with a score greater than 4.0 — pushing more contentious siting decisions to special-use-permit review.

Staff and consultants described three principal technical changes: a clarified definition of "skylighting" (when a facility is visible against the sky from a viewing point), alignment of concealment-element rules to recent FCC guidance that limits use of reference trees for concealment, and an adjusted set of tiered parameters for tower heights and exempted collocations. Under the new text, some small facilities remain eligible for streamlined administrative review while facilities that would skylight on ridgelines or fall within the designated avoidance definitions will require additional review.

The ordinance update was contentious. Speakers from preservation groups urged the board not to remove historic districts and scenic byways from avoidance protections; residents and rural advocates pressed for fewer procedural barriers to expand coverage, citing safety and the county’s substantial coverage gaps. In public comment, Phyllis Ripper of Whitehall said, "It is unbelievable that in 2024 we don't have cell service in that ... 50% of this county," urging the board to remove disincentives to build in rural areas.

Board members negotiated a compromise to balance those concerns. The National Register buffer will be fixed to the county’s current list, preventing new individual listings from automatically enlarging avoidance areas. For environmental protections, the board accepted the staff’s forest-block alternative at the higher-score threshold, which staff said will capture the most contiguous and significant forest blocks while leaving lower-scored areas more accessible for administrative approvals.

The motion carried on a roll-call vote after supervisors said the outcome represented an improvement over the present ordinance and a workable compromise between coverage and preservation. Board staff said the county will continue to update mapping layers and coordinate with the Natural Heritage Committee and the planning department as additional biodiversity-mapping work becomes available.

The board also directed staff to track outcomes so members can evaluate whether changes increase applicants and result in improved cell coverage over the next year.