Towering Issue Laid to Rest

Plan Promised Better Cell Coverage in Rural Areas

They may look like evergreen trees or silos, but the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors decided Tuesday that four telecommunications towers designed by an Arlington-based company to blend into rural settings do not belong in western Loudoun.

The board voted 7 to 2 to deny the permits sought by Community Wireless Structures, which said its "monopines" and "stealth silo" would have allowed wireless companies to dramatically expand cellphone and high-speed Internet service to the county's rural reaches. A majority of supervisors said wireless services were not so lacking in those areas that the county needed to adopt such unsightly solutions.

Supervisor Sarah R. "Sally" Kurtz (D-Catoctin) said the towers would have detracted from western Loudoun's historical charm and natural beauty.

"Imagine a gigantic fake pine rising 40 feet above the rest of the trees. That's what we would have had here," she said. "We sell scenery. Our rural tourism business is booming, and that is because of the way the area looks."

Kurtz and five other supervisors did, however, vote to allow the company to build a 100-foot tower resembling a pine tree in Taylorstown. Because of its placement below the ridge line, that pole would not be as much of an eyesore, Kurtz said.

The company initially proposed to erect eight towers, ranging from 90 to 150 feet tall, at five sites in northwest Loudoun, north of Route 7 and mostly west of Route 15. The proposal later was pared to five towers at five sites.

Community Wireless officials said that by leasing the towers to major telecommunications companies, they would help improve cellphone coverage in the region and expand broadband Internet access to thousands of underserved Loudoun residents. And by shaping the poles to look less like industrial towers and more like the trappings of farm country, company officials hoped that the structures would be viewed as acceptable additions to the landscape.

But dozens of residents spoke out against them, saying they were unconvincing as rural scenery and an unnecessary blight on the horizon. Some said they were concerned about the health effects of living near transmission towers.

Robert M. Gordon, an investor in the Community Wireless project, who has served on various Loudoun government commissions, said the decision will have a chilling effect on other companies seeking to fill the need for better wireless services in western Loudoun. The company spent more than a year moving through the county approval process, only to be "shut down across the board," he said.

"I think the big losers are the residents in western Loudoun County who believed the county's pronouncements about being Internet-enabled and connected," he said. "Basically, the infrastructure is not there now and is not going to be there for the foreseeable future."

Gordon said the company has not decided whether it will go forward with the one tower that was approved Tuesday.

Supervisor Lori L. Waters (R-Broad Run), who along with board Chairman Scott K. York (I) voted to allow the four poles that the board majority rejected, said they were necessary to strengthen communication channels in emergencies. Moreover, Waters said, they would help shrink the digital divide that separates suburban eastern Loudoun and the rural west in a county known for its high-tech businesses.

An estimated 9,000 residents and businesses, most of them in western Loudoun, do not have the option of subscribing to broadband Internet service, a county technology official said in December. A county study last year showed 16 areas in the county in need of better cellphone coverage, with the greatest need in western Loudoun.

"I feel these are needed from a public safety perspective, and to make sure our residents in western Loudoun are not part of the [technological] divide," Waters said prior to casting a vote. "This is going to be a tough decision to make, but it's one we need to make for the future of the county."

A better solution would be for wireless companies to use existing water towers and utility poles instead of building structures, Kurtz said. She and other supervisors said they wanted to revisit the county's telecommunications plan, written in 1996, with the goal of updating it.

County officials are expected to decide this year on three other cellphone towers proposed for western Loudoun.