Communication Breakdown

A proposed county ordinance that will set standards for installation of communication towers is being met with resistance from local broadband services. The ordinance will set standard requirements for all telecommunication towers, regardless of function, following state guidelines passed in 2013.

Door County Broadband (DCB), a fixed wireless internet service provider based in Baileys Harbor, has led the charge against the ordinance. They hired Green Bay law firm Conway, Olejniczak & Jerry, S.C. to draft a letter to the Door County Board of Supervisors detailing the issues with the proposed ordinance.

“While compliance with these requirements may be cost-effective in constructing large Cell Towers that can service thousands of mobile users, it is cost-prohibitive for constructing Internet Towers and will likely force fixed wireless Internet service providers to limit or cease their services to Door County residents,” read the letter.

Requirements include proof of compliance with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regarding environmental review, a “no hazard” determination from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and a report from a licensed engineer regarding the structural design.

Kevin Voss, owner of DCB does not feel these guidelines should apply to internet towers due to their difference in size. Grant Thomas, Door County Corporation Counsel, believes all communication towers fall under this umbrella.

“I know that various providers distinguish themselves differently, but they all fall under that,” said Thomas.

“I have no issue with what they’re doing,” said Voss. “I don’t have a problem if it’s crafted properly… They say they’re doing this to level the playing field. How is this level?”

Voss referred to the difference in size and thus the number of towers required by DCB to provide service. The smaller towers cannot transmit as far, requiring DCB to erect more towers throughout the county. If every tower Voss builds requires clearance from the FAA and the FCC, he will not be able to continue given the costs and time associated with permitting.

“If you want to go get the permits and then come to me to build the tower, fine. But I’m in the internet business, not the permitting business or the tower business,” said Voss.

In the past, internet providers and mobile companies have been addressed differently when constructing their towers, but only because of their height, not due to the type of service.

A 2004 ordinance, the Door County Telecommunications Tower Ordinance, set standards for all telecommunications towers, including both cell and internet. According to Thomas, the ordinance paralleled federal standards.

“In the 2004 ordinance, we had a height exemption where towers of a certain height or lower were exempt,” said Mariah Goode, Planning Department Director. “[DCB] chose to always construct towers that were below that height exemption.”

DCB went to the county in 2012 to ask for the height exemption to be pushed higher, which the county approved.

Then in 2013, Thomas explained that new state standards approved with the 2013-15 biennial budget made the 2004 county ordinance “essentially null and void.” Since then, the county has been working on rewriting the ordinance.

“Our other ordinance was consistent with the federal rules but the state further restricted what local units of government may do,” said Thomas. “Their goal being to have uniform regulations statewide instead of a patchwork quilt of regulations.”

DCB believes the proposal is too broad by including “other” towers in the ordinance, which, in the Resource Planning Committee meeting on Feb. 5, Thomas stated will include internet service providers.

Liberty Grove has already begun work with Door County Broadband in getting service to all town residents. David Studebaker, chairman of the Technology Committee for Liberty Grove, said at a Plan Commission meeting on June 10 that the new ordinance would make the task cost prohibitive. Larger providers do not have the incentive to invest in service to the sparsely populated areas in the northern tip of the county.

There is currently no height exemption in the proposed ordinance, placing all towers under the same umbrella of restrictions. Mariah Goode explained this was not the choice of the county, but rather what the state allows the county to regulate.

“In 2013, the state stepped in and created regulations,” said Goode. “If you are going to regulate communication towers, this is how you’re going to regulate them… It doesn’t say you can’t exempt towers based on height, but it doesn’t say that you can.”

But the county ordinance can only reach so far. Wisconsin statute states that a county ordinance only applies to unincorporated parts of the county. Individual towns and municipalities can pass ordinances regarding communication towers, making the county ordinance irrelevant in town limits.

Voss believes that, if the county ordinance is approved, towns will go ahead and pass their own ordinances, leaving a patchwork of regulations that Thomas believes the state hoped to avoid.

The ordinance is scheduled to go to vote by the Board of Supervisors in August. If approved, the ordinance will become Chapter 14 of the Door County Planning Department’s ordinances.