Supervisors withdraw special conditional use permit for Verizon Project
Published 6:15 pm Wednesday, January 13, 2016
The Lunenburg County Board of Supervisors pulled the conditional use permit for one of two cell towers that had been proposed in the county by Verizon.
The supervisors withdrew the conditional use permit for the proposed 295-foot Mill Pond Road tower during their Thursday, Jan. 7, meeting after the county received notice from Verizon representative Drew Patterson that the company is not moving forward on constructing the tower.
In October, Verizon Wireless requested additional time to use conditional use permits to construct two towers that the company was given permission to build nearly two years ago.
Verizon asked for extensions for the Mill Pond Road in Dundas and the proposed 310-foot tower on Rocky Mill Road in Victoria.
The conditional use permits for the two projects were approved on Nov. 14, 2013.
But the extensions were granted last year with the condition that if the work on the tower had not begun by the end of the year, the permit would be pulled.
The county also required the Victoria tower be completed by April 30, and that the Mill Pond tower be completed by June 30.
Beverley P. Hawthorne, the county’s director of economic and community development, said the Rocky Mill Road tower is on schedule.
Hawthorne said she has already been in touch with another company interested in putting a tower in the area.
Some had long complained about how long the projects have taken and insisted the towers should have been built as soon as the conditional use permits were initially issued.
But Hawthorne noted at the time of the extension last year that Lunenburg County, like many rural areas, faces the problem of needing and wanting cell towers and the service they provide to users, having smaller populations that means there are not enough potential customers to pay for the projects as far as providers are concerned.