ECHO TRAIL— The sudden appearance of a 195-foot communications tower near Everett Lake has local residents here both concerned and surprised about the lack of public notice.
“We were blindsided,” said Quent Lauer, who lives on Everett Lake, about eight miles up the Echo Trail from Ely. “We just woke up one morning and saw this huge tower going up.”
New communications towers are hardly unusual these days, but the St. Louis County ordinance used to require a conditional use permit for such projects, and such permits required a public hearing and notification of nearby neighbors.
But the county board changed that process in 2015, when it adopted a new zoning ordinance, known as Ordinance 62. The earlier ordinance, adopted back in 1993, did require a conditional use permit for communications towers, according to Jennifer Bourbonais, land use manager for St. Louis County Planning and Community Development. The CUP process requires a public hearing and notification of neighbors.
The updated ordinance dropped that requirement, however, in favor of what are known as “performance standard permits,” which can be issued over-the-counter as long as they meet a minimum set of pre-defined standards or criteria. Public notification is no longer required, which is why neighbors near the facility were caught off-guard.
A company out of Rochester, Minn., known as TowerCo., commissioned construction of the 195-foot “monopole,” which will be located inside a 50’ by 50’ fenced compound and will accommodate an AT&T antenna and any other wireless communications companies looking to extend service into the area, where coverage remains spotty at best. The information provided by St. Louis County did not indicate whether or not the tower will be lighted, although current FAA regulations only require lighting or special paints for towers 200 feet or more in height.
A written description of the project, obtained by the Timberjay, states that the tower will enhance AT&T’s FirstNet system along the eastern portion of the Echo Trail. The FirstNet system is designed to assist first responders, as well as the public.
Access to wireless communications has been an issue for first responders along the Echo Trail and adjacent portions of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The St. Louis County Rescue Squad, in particular, has struggled at times to communicate while undertaking wilderness rescues in the western portion of the BWCAW. The new tower is expected to significantly improve the communications in that area.