Residents oppose 911 tower by homes

Some homeowners in the Prospect Peak development are so opposed to plans for a county 911 tower near their homes that they have offered to buy the tower site from the county.

Part-time resident Robert Sloan has conveyed his concerns about construction of a 200-300 ft. tower to the Morgan County Commis-sioners by letter earlier this year.

Most recently, Sloan appeared at the June 25 commission meeting to lodge his opposition to a new 911 tower on the western side of Cacapon Mountain above the Panorama Overlook.

He proposed several alternative sites for the structure and offered to buy the county's 1/3-acre site there to keep a tower from being built.

Inside "fall radius"

The center of the county lot is just 180 feet from Sloan's property, well within the "fall radius" of a 911 tower, he noted.

"We would always be fearful that a piece of equipment could be blown off and damage our house or the tower itself could fall and hit us directly," Sloan said in his statement to county officials.

In addition to the physical risk of having the tower so close to his future retirement home, Sloan said he's worried about noise from "support buildings" that would power 911 and cell equipment on the tower.

"There could be as many as four buildings, all located on the 1/3 acre lot, each with industrial generators, machinery and HVAC systems with the accompanying noise, maintenance requirements and unsightly appearance," Sloan said.

There are at least two other homes within 250 feet of the proposed tower site, said Sloan.

He argued that locating the communications tower near the homes would also reduce the value of those homes, and that construction excavation might harm the subdivision's community water system, which is right next to the tower site.

Speaking to The Morgan Messenger last week, Sloan said he's hopeful the commissioners will find an alternative site for a tower on top of Cacapon Mountain. He said Commissioner Hutchinson seemed "very receptive" to the homeowners' concerns.

County seeking alternatives

"We would like to accommodate him," Hutchinson said.

County 911 Director Dave Michael said officials are looking for another property in the "same general vicinity" to hold a future tower. A nearby landowner may be willing to sell the county a more secluded lot for the 911 tower.

"If I had land available that was further away from houses, I'd prefer that," said Michael.

There is no money to build a Prospect Peak tower right now, and even if Congressional earmarks for emergency towers came through, it would be six months to a year before any building would begin on a tower there, Michael said.

The county purchased the empty lot at public auction in 2007 for close to $10,000, he said. It previously held a small television tower, which had already been taken down.

A tower near Prospect Peak would extend 911 communications from Sir Johns Run to the west side of Great Cacapon, predicted Michael. The county will likely lease space on the structure to commercial cell providers, as it has done with other 911 towers, he said.