By David Rogers. BLOWING ROCK, N.C. — For at least the better part of 50 years, the Town of Blowing Rock’s Fire, Police and Public Works departments have relied on two-way radio communications to connect with one another. Whether hand-held, shoulder-mounted or vehicle-installed devices, the low frequency radio technology has proven not only safely effective but cost efficient and less visually impactful compared with other potential solutions.
What is required, however, is a relatively clear line of sight between a central transmission pole and the end users. At the very least, there must be a clear line of sight between the transmission utility pole and any facilitating “repeaters” scattered around town to augment a radio signal at any given time.
It has served the Town well but now there is a problem: the trees grew.
Because it is the highest point in town providing the best opportunity for clear line of sight throughout the area, in the 1960s or 1970s (the exact date was apparently not recorded) our city fathers at the time erected a 60-foot, wooden utility pole in the middle of Green Hill Circle, adjacent to the town’s three million gallon capacity water tank, all on town-owned property. It was a decision that has served the town well.
Many, if not most of the homes dotting the Green Hill neighborhood arrived long after the water tank and radio utility pole, but cognizant that such a large water storage tank (it is six times bigger than the tank at the water plant along U.S. 321) might not be the prettiest neighbor to the expensive homes being built on Green Hill Circle, the Town planted trees around the water tank, to effectively hide it.
But now there is a problem. While they do a great job of shielding the water tank from the residential neighbors’ and their visitors’ respective views, the trees have grown to a point where they reduce or impede the quality of the radio signals from the utility pole. The “line of sight” is no longer clear and reduced quality transmissions hamper the ability of Fire, Police and Public Works personnel to communicate with one another.
Replacing an old utility pole with a new one is a much more elegant — and environmentally friendly — solution than clear-cutting a tree canopy.
Town staff has two alternative solutions for addressing the impaired communications. They could, of course, clear-cut all or most of the trees around the water tank, removing the canopy that is interfering with line-of-sight transmissions. While that seems extreme, keeping the Green Hill Circle neighbors in firewood for a fair amount of time might prove welcome compensation for what would no longer be camouflaged views of the water storage tank!
The second solution, though, is being proposed by town staff and the issue will go before the Planning Board on July 11 and later addressed by a special public hearing of Town Council. That solution? Buy a new, 80-foot utility pole that restores the line of sight above the trees. According to Town Manager Shane Fox, that should work for 20-30 years until the trees’ continued growth becomes potentially problematic again.
What is NOT being proposed, Fox explained to Blowing Rock News in a July 1 interview, is any other kind of communications equipment.
“This is not for commercial cell phone usage nor for other law enforcement agencies, like the previously proposed VIPER technologies used by the Highway Patrol,” said Fox. “This is strictly for enabling us to do what we have always done with these low frequency, two-way radios. Any use or application other than what is in this conditional zoning proposal would require a different public hearing. The town is not in the cell phone business. Again, this is just to allow us to do what we have been doing for the last half century or more.”
In the end, this conditional zoning proposal is to get town council’s approval for replacing the wooden, 60-foot utility pole with a galvanized (more weather resistant and durable), 80-foot pole, to regain that necessary clear line of sight. It improves public safety as well as the responsiveness of Fire, Police and Public Works to everyone served by the Town, which of course includes the nearby residents on Green Hill.
Replacing a single utility pole is a far more elegant solution than cutting down trees around the water storage tank. There are some in town circulating disinformation about the project and they should be ignored. They simply don’t get it or believe there is some kind of hidden agenda. There is not.
The Planning Board and the Board of Commissioners would be well served to approve this conditional zoning petition which, unlike the quasi-judicial, special use permit process, allows the decision makers to speak with those in the know: the town staff, public works, fire and police personnel who use the subject equipment every day.
And that is how I see it.
