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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1, 2000
Our View
Cell Game
Adopting our own cell tower rules
early was the right move
On Tuesday morning, State Sen. Martin
Williams (R-lst District) moved to have Senate
Bill 758 “struck” before it came before the House Transportation Committee.
SB 758, as you recall, was the piece of legislation that would have allowed cell towers to be built on state-owned property without input — or approval — from the local jurisdictions where they might be located.
Never a popular bill, SB 758 squeaked through the Senate by one vote (19-18) before being sent to the House. Once there, it was assigned to a Transportation subcommittee headed by Del. Jay Katzen (R-31st).
After a spirited debate, the subcommittee voted, first coming up with a 3-3 tie, which was broken when Katzen, as chairman, cast his vote to pass the bill on to the full committee with the recommendation that it go no further.
Both the supporters and the opponents of the bill thought they could muster the 13 votes needed to get the bill through the full committee. But since the bill never made it that far, we’ll never know. Who says one vote doesn’t make a difference?
If one were to look for the silver lining, at least the threat of uncontrolled tower construction has already been effectively addressed in Rappahannock County.
If Sen. Williams comes back next year with a similar bill — as he has vowed to do — at least we will be ahead of those other jurisdictions that haven’t gotten their collective acts together.
And we will have had a year to try out the new regulations.
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