Courtesy of the WASHRag, Volume 12 #10, December 2008:
Following a hearing on a neighbor’s appeal of Chuck Mills W3YNI’s second tower permit on Thursday, November 13th, 7:30 PM, the Penn Township Zoning Hearing Board Voted 5—0 in denying the appeal and permitting Mr. Mills to retain his tower.
Two different reporters for Tribune Total Media newspapers wrote extremely similar articles, last month both stating that “a group of residents” had continued to oppose the permit for the tower. The articles can be found at http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune ... 98545.html and http://www.yourpenntrafford.com/penntra ... ower-issue. The article announcing the results also indicated that there were multiple neighbors opposing the tower http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune ... 02666.html
However, amateur radio operators who attended the meeting in support of Mr. Mills stated that only one neighbor, Mr. John & Mrs. Jill Ducar, testified in opposition to the permit at this hearing, as opposed to “5 or 6” at the hearing over the first permit. In fact, many neighbors spoke in favor of Mr. Mills and his tower, according to the articles, or signed letters of support. He also had supporting testimony from an engineer and the county RACES officer.
News reports stated that Mr. Ducar’s primary complaint was merely over the position of the tower. “We are not contesting the presence of an antenna structure on the property, but rather its location and lack of screening from adjacent properties." He wants the tower moved further back in the yard, were existing trees would provide additional screening. However, Mr. Mills and his attorney, Mike Lazaroff K3AIR, pointed out that moving the tower at this point would cost $4500 or more and would cause other long-term problems, making this unreasonable. Photographs of the property that were presented at the hearing indicated the tower is already screened to a great degree by existing trees.
Despite this public statement, however, during the hearing, audience members reported that they overheard Mrs. Ducar saying to other neighbors "...we just want that tower GONE". Unfortunately, Mr. Mills and Mr. Lazaroff were not made aware of these comments until after testimony in the hearing had closed, or they would have tried to get this on the record.
According to Mr. Lazaroff, the township solicitor noted that PRB-1 and the (then) soon to be enforced Act 88 require a good-faith negotiating effort between the amateur radio operator and the municipality. Mr. Mills & Mr. Lazaroff were able to document this to the satisfaction of the hearing board, and that they had been willing to (reasonably) compromise beyond what the letter of the law required.
One thing that is clear as that for several months, going back to the original permit and permit hearing, the Zoning Office had been willing to issue the permits to Mr. Mills. Once they were fully informed on their responsibilities under PRB-1, they have made good faith efforts and performed good faith negotiations to a conclusion favorable to Mr. Mills. While there was, at first, some opposition from the township itself, they acquiesced once the solicitors took a good, hard look at what the law said and what Mr. Mills’ rights were.
It appears that the actions of only one or two neighbors were extending the process and causing additional expenses on both the township and on Mr. Mills. These neighbors may have been abusing the legal process by filing these frivolous actions trying to force the township to enforce everything in a very hair splitting, hyper-technical matter. Yet, while these neighbors argue about the precise location of the tower, almost down to the inch, regardless of the cost of moving the structure, there are counter-complaints that their hands are not clean, as these same neighbors have put up accessory use structures without permits, in areas of the property where they're clearly not allowed.
Mr. Ducar had no immediate comment pending a review of the decision. He will have 30 days to appeal the decision to the Westmoreland County Court of Common Pleas.
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Originally Posted by N9FE
