Proposed 40-foot ham radio antenna tower causing static in Marblehead

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Classic NIMBY rich people problems!

With all the trees in the neighborhood you would never even notice it.


http://newton.wickedlocal.com/news/...io-antenna-tower-causing-static-in-marblehead

A group of neighbors banded together over concerns regarding a 40-foot aluminum ham radio operator tower going up in their neighborhood got some good news when the Zoning Board of Appeals voted to revoke the permit.

“It is the best we could have hoped for,” Cathyann Swindlehurst, said referring to the outcome of the Sept. 27 ZBA hearing.

Swindlehurst, a Casino Road resident representing the abutters, told ZBA members she believed vague zoning bylaws and a certain amount of protection under the federal government resulted in the Michael Crestohl receiving a building permit for the tower. She is alarmed however that “the building permit was issued without any restrictions attached.”

Marblehead’s bylaws appear to make only one mention of ham operator antenna’s, Swindlehurst said. Under auxiliary uses, wireless communications antennas it states that antennas used solely and exclusively for ham operation and television are are allowed as a matter of right and are excluded from this section.

Crestohl also noted that town's by-laws "specifically and clearly state that antennas used 'solely and exclusively for ham radio are considered a matter of right' and are excluded from the section of the by-laws dealing with zoning. I operate my station by authority of the F.C.C. and there is federal legislation, PRB1, that requires local authorities to make 'reasonable accommodations' for antennas used exclusively for amateur radio."

[more in the link]
 
Always a tough one. Here's my metaphor.

The mountain man lives 25 miles from town. He has to dig his own well and provide his own defense from the bears and Indians. But, he shoots deer from his front porch and pees off the back porch. But he got lonely and moved into town. It's nice there in town since the well is dug and he's safe, but he's not doing any of those things off his porches anymore. He gave up some freedoms to live amongst a lot of people.

That said, the bylaws seem pretty clear and once the town issues a permit they should not be able to rescind it, even if some NIMBY neighbor throws a hissy-fit.
 
If they're bitching about 40' (forty!!) in that neighborhood, NOTHING will make them happy. **** 'em and take 'em to court, stuffing PRB-1 so far up their asses they can duly taste the shit. Deny their kids candy on Halloween, and shit on their doorsteps this coming Mischief Night. They've earned it.
 
I am not a Ham, but it is my understanding that such antennas are protected by Fed Law under the FCC and NOT subject to local zoning whims.

We had a neighbor who was an active ham and actually did give us "static" on the TV when we first moved in some 40 years ago. He was probably 6-800' away from my house and we were cordial neighbors. Don't recall if I ever mentioned it to him but no way would I have hassled him about it. My town is one of those "we prohibit everything" towns.
 
this is the Massachusetts mentality....We see the benefit but not in my back yard...how can we oppress your rights today sir?

A guy down the street from me has a tower. Hasn't done anything to the property values.
 
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Swindlehurst said abutters have four major concerns with the proposed antenna, safety, aesthetics, radio frequency emissions and interference with their own stereos, televisions and electronic equipment.

I hope this guy got the ZBA on record to say that they recinded his permit because of the RF concerns...if so the town is screwed. That's the FCCs job, and they don't like other people trying to take their job away from the.
Local governments may not, however, base their regulation of amateur service antenna structures on the causation of interference to home electronic equipment--an area regulated exclusively by the Commission.
http://www.arrl.org/restrictive-antenna-ordinances
 
Iirc Back when cell phone towers were going up everywhere a lot of people, towns, were trying to stop them with zoning restrictions. It was eventually determined that this was within the authority of the FCC and the towns had no say as long as FCC regs were followed. I don't have a cite but I'll look later.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
 
There is nothing tough about it if they want that bullshit (micromanaging what people can do with their property) they can go live in an HOA with RCs and all that other garbage that I ****ing hate.

Beyond any safety issues of the tower falling on someone elses land, the zoning board should **** off.

A 40 foot tower really isn't even that tall.

-Mike
 
I am not a Ham, but it is my understanding that such antennas are protected by Fed Law under the FCC and NOT subject to local zoning whims.

We had a neighbor who was an active ham and actually did give us "static" on the TV when we first moved in some 40 years ago. He was probably 6-800' away from my house and we were cordial neighbors. Don't recall if I ever mentioned it to him but no way would I have hassled him about it. My town is one of those "we prohibit everything" towns.

PRB1 protects you but you have to be willing to wage war against the town with it to get your way. It's not something powerful enough where someone can be hit with a federal felony for ignoring it on the zoning side. So basically a douche town with a lot of money can still cause you problems up until the point that they lose.

-Mike
 
If they're bitching about 40' (forty!!) in that neighborhood, NOTHING will make them happy. **** 'em and take 'em to court, stuffing PRB-1 so far up their asses they can duly taste the shit. Deny their kids candy on Halloween, and shit on their doorsteps this coming Mischief Night. They've earned it.
Don't forget to bang the wife/GF and throw the keys on the roof.
 
A 40 foot tower really isn't even that tall.

Really isn't that tall??!? A 40' is a toadstool. A decent TV aerial off our roof would be >40' AGL. We took down a pine tree next to the house a few years back that was 85'+.

- - - Updated - - -

Don't forget to bang the wife/GF and throw the keys on the roof.

That, too! [devil]
 
The guy should check out the website of Attorney Hopengarten.
http://www.antennazoning.com/main/page_home.html

Fred (K1VR) knows his stuff and is a really nice guy. Not sure, but I imagine if the fella dropped Fred a line he would get some general advice on how to proceed. It has been a good number of years but as I recall Fred was only a member of ME bar association, but he might be able to recommend council.

P.S.> Those neighbors probably would not like my OptiBeam OB11-3 at 65'
 
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