At the February 19 meeting of the Fillmore County Planning Commission, the current requirement that a communications tower be setback at least 500 feet from a residence was discussed.
Cloud 1 Services, LLC has applied for conditional use permits in recent months for about a half dozen communication towers. At least two of the proposals have been opposed by a neighboring property owner who feels the tower is to be built too close to that property owner’s residence. All of the applications have been approved because all requirements including the location proposed conform to the conditions spelled out in the county’s ordinance.
The ordinance states under 733.07 Performance Standards, Setbacks 1)“No telecommunications facility structure shall be located within five hundred (500) feet of any residence.” Commissioner Duane Bakke recommended, due to the recent opposition to the five-hundred-foot limit, the setback requirement should be increased to one-thousand feet from any residence. He said people complaining that the tower is being built too close to their residence creates friction. However, most towers proposed have not been that close.
Land Use Director Blake Lea said there are nine more tower sites that will come before the Planning Commission for consideration. None of these sites are within one-thousand feet of a residence. AT&T has a contract for a 911 system that requires towers in all of the proposed locations.
The closeness of some of these towers to existing towers was discussed. Apparently, AT&T could be or is being charged absurdly high rates to put their equipment on some existing towers. This is the reason for constructing their own telecommunication towers.
Gary Ruskell said, “We don’t really get an answer as to why a specific location is chosen when an application for a tower comes before the commission.”
Trinity Johnson suggested the landowner that enters into a lease agreement for a tower has some control over the location of the tower. Johnson added he had no issue with a one-thousand-foot setback.
Andy Bisek asked if the increase to one-thousand feet could impact the building of a new residence. Lea said the home builder could apply for a variance; if he wanted, he could build closer than the one-thousand-foot setback.
A motion was unanimously approved to take the proposal to public hearing to increase the setback for a communications tower from a residence from five-hundred feet to one-thousand feet.
There is a requirement in the ordinance that the setback of a communications tower from a property boundary must be no less that the height of the tower. Bakke had suggested this could be increased to one and a half times. No action was taken.
Other language in the ordinance that discouraged “guyed” structures was discussed (733.06 Design Requirements). Guyed towers are cheaper to construct but use more area. No action was taken on that.
The next meeting of the Planning Commission is scheduled for March 26. There will be a public hearing on the proposal to amend the language in the ordinance to require a one-thousand-foot setback from a residence for a communications tower. Lea said his office will correct any other obvious language errors in this ordinance by that time.
Board of Adjustment
Officers were elected as this was the first meeting in 2026. Andy Bisek was elected chairman and Gary Ruskell was elected vice-chairman.
Tony and Caitlin Russell, section 23 of Arendahl Township, applied for a variance permit to add on to an existing building that is only 37 feet from the center of the road. The variance will allow the new shed to also be 37 feet from the center of the road (381st Ave.) instead of the required 73 feet. There was no comment from the public. The variance was approved as requested.
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