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The Lunenburg Board of Supervisors approved a conditional use permit (CUP) Application for a Verizon Wireless Cell Tower during its Thursday, Nov. 12 meeting, moving the county further in its quest for better communication.

The Thursday meeting included a public hearing on the CUP in which Jeff Holland with Verizon

addressed the board, telling supervisors Verizon was not aware of any community opposition to the project.

“In fact, we have received a lot of community support for this tower,” Holland said. “With a lot of people now working from home and schools learning virtually now, it’s a high demand more than ever.”

According to the application, Verizon proposes constructing and operating a 299-foot wireless communication facility in an A-1 agricultural zone near Plank Road and Wallace Bridge Road.

Holland said Verizon conducted several balloon tests in the area where the tower would be located.

“We did not see the balloon anywhere,” Holland said. “Which means the tower will not be visible.”

According to Clerk Glenn Millican of the Lunenburg Office of Planning and Economic Development, the tower would be constructed several hundred feet from property lines and set back from Plank Road approximately 130 feet.

Millican said the planning commission previously approved Verizon’s request by a unanimous vote.

During the public hearing, no citizens spoke, however, supervisor Wayne Hoover asked Holland if there would be space on the tower for public safety equipment.

“Does your company allow that at no cost?” Hoover noted that several other companies have allowed counties to place E911 equipment on its towers at no cost to the county.

“I can’t answer that,” Holland told Hoover. That’s not a condition of the application, but we can have a discussion on that, but typically it’s not a problem to have space on the tower.”

Lunenburg County is currently in the process of undergoing a multimillion-dollar revamp of its E911 and county communications systems.

According to Holland it could be close to two years before the cell tower is operational.