Tower regs should be reexamined, council says

The Talkeetna Community Council agreed to write a letter to the Borough Assembly urging them to reconsider regulations governing tall-structures and towers. The Borough pulled all tall structure regulations from the books in November after a drawn-out process of negotiations between workgroups and constituents resulted in a draft of guidelines that didn’t satisfy everyone, but most could live with.

A work group held fifteen three-hour meetings in an attempt to iron out a compromise that satisfied the expectations of the involved interests, including those of Ham Radio operators, wireless providers, land use planners, and resident groups. Concerns ranged from blocked views to weak signals, to limited ability to co-locate multiple wireless carriers on a single tower.

After the Borough Assembly pulled the regulations from the books, the only limitation to the construction of towers are Special Use Districts, such as the one covering Downtown Talkeetna, but excludes much of the Spur Road and beyond.

The AT&T tower at Fish Lake is one tower that benefits from the eradication of regulations, and is expected to be installed imminently.