By AMY RICKER
Great Bend Post
To ensure all Barton County residents have access to the internet, AMG Technology Investment Group dba Nextlink sought approval for the construction of the last three of 5 towers from the County Commissioners.
Tower #3 will be constructed on a parcel of land north and west of Hoisington and is the only tower that is not on a residential parcel of land but instead on an Ag parcel. Like the others, it will be a 120’ monopole style of telecommunication tower held in the ground by concrete without guidewires, lattice, or lights. Should the tower fall, the placement meets all setback requirements that the fall zone would not cross any structures, utilities, roads, or property lines.
Environmental Manager Judy Goreham said that lights are only required on towers that are 200 feet or taller for pilot visibility. However, the commissioners did approve the construction of Tower #2 only on the condition that aerial stripes be painted on the top 40 feet due to the location being surrounded by fields that crop dusters spray every year. Goreham said at that time, Nextlink was in agreement to provide the paint on tower #2, but since then, Nextlink does not want to do any more paint on towers, but they will if they have to due to the long-term maintenance.
“At the public hearing for this third tower, this was brought up because that gentleman from Tony’s Aerial Spraying sent me an email with his concerns. He was worried about the air ambulance path from Hoisington, Russell, and Hays along with the pipeline path that these smaller planes would have to take,” said Goreham.
Goreham said the planning commission spent a lengthy amount of time discussing if Tower #3 was in a location that could be a visibility hazard to small pilots and came to the conclusion that it was not, and no paint stripes would be required.
“We had one person make a comment, and it was not about spraying ground like it was with Tower #2. His comment was about if it was a danger for LifeFlight and pilots monitoring pipelines. I feel like his concern was just in general. In general, he feels like these towers should have paint,” explained Goreham.
Commissioner Shawn Hutchinson said he had a problem with the towers and the maintenance costs because Nextlink has not provided an estimated cost to paint and maintain the paint over the years, despite requesting it for the last month.
“As a commissioner, I’m trying to put the puzzle pieces together to get a big picture of the whole thing. I have a person that has a concern and then a business, who I do want here to provide broadband to farmers. The problem is, how do we fix the concern?” said Hutchinson. “One idea that floated through my mind was if the cost for maintenance isn’t that high, maybe we can split it.”
Goreham said that Nextlink has never had to paint towers before, so it’s possible that they do not have an estimated cost to give. She said the county commissioners had three choices: to override the planning commission and send it back for further study, accept it as is, or override the planning commission by a supermajority and require the paint striping.
Commissioner Jennifer Schartz said that if one pilot brings up safety, that is enough to consider the paint requirement.
“I would hate for someone to hit that tower and then say that we painted that one, so why didn’t we paint this one when we knew it could be a problem. I don’t ever want to put the county in a position where we have more liability than what we already have to burden,” says Schartz.
The Commissioners voted to adopt the Resolutions for Tower #3, #4, and #5 to be constructed on the selected parcels of land on the condition that the upper towers be painted.