Controversial communications tower
gets Planning Board hearing next week
BY TERRY SCHMIDA
The 200-foot monopole communications tower proposed for Upper Sugarloaf Key will finally receive a public, country Planning Board hearing, at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 18 at the Marathon Government Center.
And not before time, according to area resident Vera Vasek, who claims the project, initiated by Florida Keys Media LLC, has upset and divided neighbors who live nearby.
“It’s going to be an interesting meeting,” said Vasek, who has spearheaded opposition to the tower. “Already you can see that both sides are digging in their heels.”
Three weeks ago Vasek was elected as the founding president of the newly formed Upper Sugarloaf Residents Association, whose 100-plus members mostly have signed an online petition at https://www.change.org/p/mayte-santamaria-gail-creech-matt-coyle-beth-ramsay-vickrey-george-neugent-stop-the-precedent-setting-installation-of-a-communication-tower-on-upper-sugarloaf
A paper petition is also being circulated.
“[The tower] is completely out of character with the neighborhood,” Vasek said. “But we’ve been told that the County Planning Board doesn’t even consider Upper Sugarloaf a community. It’s become a really touchy issue, too, because some of the people who are opposed are also associated with the company that wants to put it up, Florida Keys Media LLC. It’s kind of tearing our community apart.”
The language of the petition questions the need for the radio broadcasting and cellular phone service tower, the methods being used to get the project approved – and its suitability to an environmentally and culturally delicate part of the Keys.
“Currently, there are five towers south and southeast of the proposed site at 830 Crane Boulevard, all within a two-mile radius, and all with flashing lights,” it reads, in part. “Residents and visitors already suffer more than their share of such visual intrusions . . . The proposed industrial tower would forever alter and dominate the existing community character of this low-density island, where generations of residents and visitors have enjoyed the natural beauty, wildlife and open views of the Great White Heron National Wildlife Refuge.
“Erecting a multi-station radio tower with accompanying auxiliary structures in the small community is inconsistent with the purpose of the Suburban Commercial District, ‘to serve the needs of the immediate planning area’ (LDR Sec. 130 – 143). It far exceeds the communication needs of the Upper Sugarloaf planning area described in the Lower Keys CommuniKeys plan approved in 2012. A regional communications facility designed to broadcast radio signals to every island from Key West to Islamorada is a far cry from the convenience stores, offices, commercial apartments and local-service communications facilities SC (suburban commercial) was intended to accommodate. Existing facilities are quite adequate to provide cellular and radio service to our area. Upper Sugarloaf Key has no unmet need for a 20-story megawatt broadcast facility.”
The petition page also urges concerned residents to contact a number of county staffers involved in the approval process, including Senior Planning Director Mayte Santamaria, Senior Planning Coordinator Gail Creech, and Principal Planner Matt Coyle, ahead of a hearing set to take place in late November.
“We keep getting more signs that the word is getting out about the tower,” Vasek said. “These days a lot of second-home owners are getting back to the Keys, and are finding out what’s been happing with the project.”
Florida Keys Media, owned by entrepreneur Robert H. Holladay, purchased the local classic rock station WAIL, top-40 outfit WEOW, country-programed WCTH, and another classic rock station, WFKZ, from Clear Channel Broadcasting, in late 2013.
Vasek has also set up a Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/Stop-the-Cell-Tower-in-Our-Neighborhood-1523441261280030/timeline/?ref=hl
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