Borough finally set to take action on towering problem

That tall towers are going up at record pace in the Mat-Su Borough is partly a function of the every changing face of mobile technology, and partly a function of an aggressively pro-business assembly and mayor.

That towers are booming here is not unique. Mobile telecommunications and faster Internet speeds require more and more antennas. What is unique is for a community of 90,000 people to have no rules for tall tower placement and construction.

Mobile phones and devices that use these networks are increasing in prevalence, which means towers as part of our landscape are here to stay.

But for the past year, the borough has been without tower regulations, and the consequences of having no regulation loom large over neighborhoods around the borough. However, having no rules for tall structures isn’t a solution either.

The evidence of that is in an agenda item placed on the assembly’s budget by Borough Mayor Larry DeVilbiss. Whatever he might feel about the complaints of these dozens of newly minted tower neighbors, he told us he thinks they should have at least been warned.

What’s kind of frustrating, though, is that the current tower problem was self-inflicted. At the same meeting the assembly tossed its tall towers ordinance, it also noted it was doing so to facilitate commerce. We were told the change signaled the Mat-Su Borough was open for business.

Assemblyman Warren Keogh introduced an ordinance in September to the Planning Commission to re-instate rules for tall towers. We see DeVilbiss’ plan to install a committee to review potential tower regulations as one more attempt to put business interests ahead of property taxpayers’ interests and concerns.

Considering there was a tower committee in place for two years and a committee came up with new rules the assembly threw out last November — DeVilbiss’ new committee idea feels a lot like running to ask your mother after your father already told you no.

In today’s Frontiersman, DeVilbiss compares the borough’s tower situation to other infrastructure, “just like a road or an electric power line.”

But the comparison is not fitting. There are regulations governing the building of roads and power lines and a public process that precedes approval.

No one can just willy-nilly build a road anywhere, any size. No one can put an electric power line — or even build a new garage on their property — wherever they like. But that’s exactly what’s happening with cell towers.

We expect the assembly will back DeVilbiss’ idea and seat a carefully picked board that is heavily represented by the telecommunications industry and select members of the business community. But we hope there is enough room at the table for proponents of more careful planning, too, and for someone who represents the angry group of voiceless residents with new towers in their neighborhoods.