Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Will Wyoming Extend Cell Tower Moratorium?


Today the Teton County commissioner will decide whether or not to continue a month’s long moratorium on new cell phone towers in Wyoming. By continuing this suspension on cell towers, the county will be able to take their time in writing new regulations. The county has hired a consultant to work with to draft the regulations.

“Our goal is to make this a very strict and limited timeline that we’re going to have to deliver on,” said Teton County Commission Chairman Paul Vogelheim. “This is something we can do in 90 to 100 days.” (Source: jhnewsandguide.com)

The cell tower freeze was implemented two weeks ago when the county started discussing the possibility of a 110-foot tower being placed on the hill above Swinging Bridge. This moratorium sparked AT&T’s Cheryl Riley to write to the county reminding them that federal law, “states that state and local ‘regulation of the placement, construction and modification of personal wireless service facilities ... shall not prohibit or have the effect of prohibiting the provision of personal wireless services.’”

Even though Teton County can put a temporary freeze in place, the Federal Communications Act of 1996 restricts county and municipal governments from blocking cell phone companies’ plans to build their networks and provide adequate service to their customers. 

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