Mont. Co. Tower Coordinator has Not Done Job, Committee Set to Approve Cell Towers for Non-Existent Locations

Below is a letter sent October 3, 2016, to the Montgomery County Transmission Facility Coordinating Group (TFCG), also known at the Tower Committee.  

 

This is the Committee that first reviews and approves applications for cell towers on school sites, on private land, on public land and in neighborhoods in Montgomery County.  The work of this Committee is very important and ultimately this Committee decides where cell towers will permanently be placed in the County.  The upcoming Agenda for this Committee is riddled with errors.  This letter requests that the Agenda be pulled and corrected before these 111 cell towers are approved for siting next to schools and homes in Montgomery County.

 

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To:  Montgomery County Transmission Facility Coordinating Group

Please pull the October 5, 2016, Agenda for the Montgomery County Transmission Facility Coordinating Group (TFCG).  It is apparent from a brief review of the Agenda items that the work of the Tower Coordinator  (outside contractor) has not been done.

The Agenda for October 5th shows a number of addresses that simply do not exist in Montgomery County.  It is, therefore, evident that the Tower Coordinator has not fulfilled his obligation to thoroughly review these applications.  The public can not know what other errors and omissions may exist on the actual applications, but it is clear that if the addresses shown do not exist, it would have been impossible for the Tower Coordinator to actually do the work that he is contracted to do as part of the Tower siting process in Montgomery County.

It is clear that the work of the Tower Coordinator (an outside contractor) is not reliable.  It is also apparent that the TFCG is not directing the work of the Tower Coordinator. 

The stated directive for the Tower Coordinator is to verify the need for new towers by reviewing the:

• engineering requirements
  
• zoning compliance
  
• appropriateness of tower siting to meet carrier's stated goals
  
• impact on community, including visual impact.

In addition, the job of the Tower Coordinator is to do a site visit.  Obviously, site visits could not be made to non-existent locations.
All of the above listed tasks of the Tower Coordinator require an accurate location for the proposed Tower.

Please pull the October 5th Agenda of the TFCG immediately and send those applications back to the Tower Coordinator for a thorough review of the applications.  Montgomery County citizens are paying for the Tower Coordinator to thoroughly review these applications and they deserve no less.