Ask the Town: Do Height Limits Restrict Cell Towers?

"Ask the Town" is a weekly series that features Vienna Public Information Officer Kirstyn Barr answering reader questions about anything and everything Vienna. Have a question? Leave it in the comments below; we'll answer it next week.

Amelie Krikorian: Verizon and Sprint are blaming the town for the poor cell reception, saying that the town is refusing to allow cell towers because of height restrictions. I do appreciate the height rule — I have no desire to see twenty story office buldings on Maple Ave — but can't something be done about the poor cell coverage here?

First, I'll clarify that height restrictions do not impact telecommunication facilities (cell towers). Telecommunications facilities, by their very nature, must be taller than 35 feet. A company that wants to erect such a facility in Town will go through the Town's Planning Commission and Board of Zoning Appeals for a conditional use permit plus a height variance, which would remove any height restrictions for this type of facility.

The Town has put significant thought into where cell phone towers should be located as to minimize the negative effects — whether they be safety, environmental or aesthetic — on nearby properties. With this in mind, in 1998 the Town developed a map that identified "encouraged locations for telecommunications facilities" and incorporated it into the Town’s Comprehensive Plan. The map identifies proposed locations along the W&OD trail, on Town-owned properties and in the Town's commercial and industrial zones. The idea is to limit the impact of such structures in our residential areas by limiting them to commercial properties and co-locating them on existing structures like buildings and water towers, instead of building new, independent structures. You can view the Town’s Comprehensive Plan online at www.viennava.gov/index.aspx?NID=270; information on telecommunication facilities begins on page 73.

Several telecommunication businesses have located equipment on existing structures including the water tower located on Tapawingo Road SW, the Nutley water tower, several businesses along Maple Avenue East and West, and along the W&OD trail. There are also several located just outside of town that serve the Vienna area including a "monopine" (a cell tower camouflaged as a pine tree) at Thoreau Middle School. 

Businesses are welcome to locate telecommunication facilities within Town in the areas that we have identified as preferred locations. We want to welcome more cell phone providers into Town to increase coverage, while continuing to maintain an aesthetically pleasing community.

Have a question? Leave it below, and we'll get it answered next week.