Tower irks Panther Ridge homeowners

PANTHER RIDGE — Ervin and Georgia Von Behren spent the morning of Aug. 20 on their screened-in pool patio drinking coffee and listening to the birds on their 10-acre Panther Ridge property like they always do.

“But that morning became different real fast when we heard a bulldozer rumbling instead of the birds,” Ervin Von Behren said.

The Von Behrens thought nothing of it, until they heard the same noise about 70 feet away from their pool patio the following morning.

“By the time I got up and walked over there, I noticed a road had been punched in off of State Road 70 and a construction company told me they were putting up a cell tower just 70-feet away from my house,” Ervin Von Behren said.

The first thing Ervin Von Behren did was pick up the phone and call The Forest of Panther Ridge Homeowner Association president, Bruce Behrens.

“He didn’t know anything about it,” Ervin Von Behren said. “None of us got any notice.”

After the Von Behrens and neighbor Sharon Kasper did some research, they discovered that a 200-foot monopole was being erected near the Von Behrens’ property line that abuts a more than 40-acre agriculturally zoned parcel of land owned by Derry Zoller.

Then, the Von Behrens reached out to District 5 Commissioner Vanessa Baugh and Manatee County building officials.

They didn’t like the response.

“There’s no way we could stop it,” Ervin Von Behren said. “The county didn’t have to notify us because it was approved through a permit that doesn’t require the county to notify neighbors.”

Manatee County Planner Miles Gentry confirmed Ervin Von Behren’s statement.

“We have reviewed our building permit and land development approval for the Spire Panther Ridge telecommunication tower and found them correct,” Gentry stated in an email to Ervin Von Behren. “No mistakes.”

Gentry said a permit for the tower doesn’t require neighbor notification on agriculturally zoned land that’s more than 40 acres in size.

But the Von Behrens think the codes need to be reviewed to allow residents to provide input in a public hearing.

“The property this is being built on is surrounded on three sides by residential homes, and all but four of the 78 lots in here have a view of this tower now,” Ervin Von Behren said. “The county permitting system needs to go to one more desk, called common sense.”

Baugh told the East County Observer she agrees with Ervin Von Behren’s assessment.

“Perhaps we can add a requirement so they have to send out notices to homes in the area, regardless of what our administrative process says,” Baugh said. “I don’t think that’s a big request and one we should be able to honor in the future, but it doesn’t help these particular neighbors and I feel terrible about that.”
The tower, meanwhile, is almost 95% complete.

“All that’s left to be placed on the top is the ugliest part that’s able to handle the cellular carriers,” Ervin Von Behren said.

The Von Behrens point out that there are already several cell towers erected in the area and don’t understand why more need to be installed. The closest monopole tower is a mile to the west, which includes both AT&T and Verizon Wireless as carriers on that tower.

Sean Campbell, owner of Winter-Park-based Spire Development, said his company placed a tower there “because there’s a need for it.”

Specifically, Campbell said the tower was built for AT&T to become the initial tower tenant, with space for three more cellular carriers. The tower will improve AT&T’s weak service in that area to the east for a few miles, Campbell said.

“There’s a need for more towers in a growing part of State Road 70 like that, not less,” Campbell said. “If I move the tower, another neighbor complains.”

Campbell said the tower was placed — with the approval of the owner who receives a monthly lease payment through a 25-year lease — on the only “workable part of a property that’s covered with wetlands.”

Georgia Von Behren said she’s disappointed with the entire situation. The Von Behrens built their dream retirement home on the property 10 years ago and now feel like the property has been tainted by the tower’s presence.

“For us, on this issue, we found out you really can’t fight City Hall,” Georgia Von Behren said.