City Asks County for Temporary Moritorium on Cell Towers

Wireless technology is so prevalent today that we take for granted the mechanisms needed to make them work–that is until a communications tower unexpectedly appears in our back yards. 

With the use of wireless devices accelerating, the necessity to install more towers to keep information transmission consistent increases. And while many towers can be seen in rural areas, today they are popping up in populated communities that some are considering a blight on the horizon.

Such was the case for residents near the intersection of Walkup and Hillside avenues a few weeks ago after a cell tower suddenly appeared in their line of vision from their homes. 

The new tower was built on private property in McHenry County adjacent to a 70-home subdivision which is visible from Walkup Ave. north of Hillside Ave. 

Residents contacted neighbor and City Councilman Brett Hopkins for help. While Hopkins resides in the subdivision, he and many of his neighbors can’t see the tower due to their locations, but those closest to the property see it plainly. 

Hopkins and Mayor Aaron Shepley proposed a resolution to ask McHenry County to halt the further installation of cell towers until it can review its own ordinances on their application. 

City Council members unanimously approved the resolution during its regular council meeting April 5. 

What the city asks is that the county’s planning and development committee provide further guidelines, standards and regulations that will be more amenable to citizens of the county, including unincorporated areas of Crystal Lake. 

The City acknowledged that Federal law limits the zoning authority of municipalities and counties in relation to cell towers in that they cannot be prohibited, regulated or discriminated between providers but only in regard to height and setbacks. 

Despite the restrictions there are many things municipalities and counties can do to decide where towers may be located and cited recent case law and the county’s own telecommunications carrier ordinance outlining standards to reducing negative impacts in its placement of them. 

Offering to work with the county, the city requested an immediate moratorium on approving cell towers until the county’s telecommunications ordinance can be reviewed. 

Hopkins said the experience is a wake-up call to residents that there needs to be specific regulation for the placement of towers in their communities. 

“People around the area understand there’s nothing they can do,” Hopkins said. “If it could happen here, where else could it happen?” 

Hopkins said that once the county approves a cell tower company's request and issues a permit, public notification is not required. 

Two years ago a cell tower company approached the city for plans to install a tower at Ken Bird Park, he said. Because the property was owned by the and not the county, a public hearing was held and neighbors had a chance to voice their opinions. The tower was not built there.

McHenry County Planning Director Dennis Sandquist said he hasn't seen the city's resolution yet. But after a review by the committee, it will be forwarded to the State's Attorney's office to see if it is even feasible to adopt a moratorium on cell towers.

"Whether we can or can't do a moratorium at the city's request, the Planning and Development Committee will definitely want to review that. But I think we're also going to find our own ordinances are almost word for word a match with the state statute for counties, " he said. "And we've done exactly what the state has allowed us to do."

It's possible the department may forward the resolution to the county's legislative committee to see if it wants to request state legislators to amend the state statute allowing the county more authority to regulate cell towers.

"Or, conversely—somethings that’s been discussed from time to time—is to give municipalities the right to regulate cell towers beyond their municipal boundaries," he said. 

County Board Member Barbara Wheeler was pleased to learn of the city’s resolution, although she hadn’t seen a copy of it either as of April 6. She and fellow board member Donna Kurtz had discussions with Hopkins about the upcoming resolution after the installation of the tower at Walkup and Hillside. 

“Progress has outpaced our ability to keep up with our ordinances,” Wheeler said. 

She said tower placement is becoming problematic particularly in pockets of county property that are near city limits where residents don’t want them. 

But like high tension wires and electrical poles, telecommunications towers will become part of the landscape.

“Nobody wants to see them, but they have to go somewhere,” she said.