CONFLICT: FAMILY UPSET AT TOWER SITE

Patrick and Lisa Kirchhoff never dreamed they'd be living in the shadow of a 300-foot cellular telephone tower erected 70 feet from their home.

The Kirchhoffs and their children, Peyton, 9 months, and Kendra, 6, live atop a hill on County Road 635 just north of Cape Girardeau.

Jerry Thomure, who owns the land next to the Kirchhoffs, said he checked with Patrick Kirchhoff before leasing the land for a tower and Kirchhoff didn't oppose it.

"If he had said no, I wouldn't have done it," Thomure said. "I didn't want to make my neighbors mad."

The Kirchhoffs, however, said Thomure never told them a cellular communications tower would be built so close to their home. Had they known, they would have opposed it.

The Kirchhoffs moved into the older house in July 1999.

"It was a quiet and pretty area," said Lisa Kirchhoff.

Her husband added that the land was bought for its beauty, "not to look at a tower."

Construction on the tower began in late October and although the tower is up, the wireless communication antennas have yet to be installed.

The Kirchhoffs worry about possible health risks. So does Patrick Kirchhoff's mother, Sharon Kirchhoff.

She fears exposure to electromagnetic fields from radio frequency emissions could pose a health risk for her son's family and her two grandchildren. Those in the industry insist such towers don't pose a health risk.

Patrick Kirchhoff said they were told by tower construction workers that the biggest problem may be chunks of ice falling from the tower in winter.

The Kirchhoffs don't want the three-legged, metal tower with its red lights, but they're powerless to keep it out.

No tower regulations

The Federal Communications Commission doesn't regulate tower sites. Neither does the state.

Antenna structures taller than 200 feet or might interfere with the flight path of an airport must be cleared by the Federal Aviation Administration.

But there are no federal restrictions on towers next to homes.

That's left up to local governments under the 1996 federal Telecommunications Act.

Sharon Kirchhoff complained to the Cape Girardeau County Commission about the closeness of the tower, but county officials say they can't control where communications towers are built in unincorporated areas because the county doesn't have planning and zoning.

County voters last month rejected planning and zoning for the county.

Had it passed, a conditional-use permit would have been required for a company to erect a tower, said Roger Arnzen, the county's director of mapping and appraisal.

A county planning commission would have had to hold a public hearing as part of the permit process.

The planning commission, and ultimately the county commission, would have been able to impose conditions on towers, such as setbacks from adjacent properties and homes, Arnzen said, adding that setback requirements would have prevented building a communications tower 65 feet from a residence.

Passing planning and zoning last month wouldn't have helped the Kirchhoffs as the tower would have been grandfathered in because it was already under construction.

Fears obsolete towers

Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones said it is clear some wireless communications companies care less about where they erect their towers.

Jones is concerned cellular telephone towers will one day become obsolete, replaced by satellite technology.

If that happens, he said, counties will be left to deal with abandoned, rusting structures.

Cape County officials say they have no idea how many cellular telephone towers are in the county.

The Federal Communications Commission keeps a registry, but an FCC staff member in Washington said even that isn't complete.

County officials say it's difficult to get a handle on the number of cellular phone towers without county permits.

The cities of Cape Girardeau and Jackson, Mo., require special-use permits for towers.

The Jackson Board of Aldermen has approved a special-use permit for a communications tower on East Jackson Boulevard despite concerns of a nearby businessman.

David Warren, president of Environmental Analysis South of Jackson, voiced concern about his 15 employees being exposed to microwave radiation for at least eight hours a day. Warren's lab is 180 feet from the tower.

The health risk is minimal said Missouri Department of Natural Resources' Byron Shaw based on information from the FCC.

Shaw has fielded countless calls from Sharon Kirchhoff and other Missourians who are worried the radio frequency emissions could pose a cancer risk.

"Most people are concerned about what effect it is going to have on children," he said.

Shaw, who works in the division of environmental quality, said state agencies don't imposes site restrictions on towers.

He has little to offer concerned residents like the Kirchhoffs.

"I tell them we don't regulate it and it is a local issue," Shaw said.

Jefferson County zoning

Unlike Cape Girardeau County, Jefferson County has zoning regulations. Those regulations include restrictions on where communication towers can be located.

Jefferson County, which has a population of nearly 200,000, has recorded permits for 48 towers. Those permits are for towers in unincorporated areas, although some of those towers are within expanded city limits, said Connie Maness, administrative clerk with the Jefferson County planning department.

Roger Hurst, zoning enforcement officer in Jefferson County, said towers are permitted in commercial and industrial districts. They also are allowed in other zones with conditional-use permits. The county planning commission can include various requirements as part of a conditional-use permit.

Jefferson County prohibits towers taller than 250 feet without approval of a variance.

It requires towers to be certain distances from residences, depending on the height of the tower. A 250-foot tower, for example, must be at least 205 feet away from a residence.

There are requirements for fencing tower sites and even the posting of a bond to pay for future removal should it be necessary.

Patrick Kirchhoff doesn't want countywide planning and zoning, but he would like to see the Missouri Legislature give counties the power to restrict the location of telecommunications towers.

"There ought to be a falling down clause," he said. The distance between a tower and a residence should be the height of the tower plus 50 feet, he suggested.

Because Cape Girardeau County doesn't have zoning regulations, Tower Ventures of Memphis, Tenn., didn't have to get a permit to put up the tower next to the Kirchhoffs.

Russell Blumenthal works in site acquisition for Tower Ventures. He said towers are built on hilltops in areas where wireless companies need antennas.

Blumenthal said the tower on County Road 635 should be completed in the next few weeks. It is designed to handle antennas for as many as six different phone companies.

Blumenthal said there's little danger of the tower collapsing.

"They are seismically designed," he said. They also are built to withstand high winds and ice. "These things are built to last."

Without planning and zoning regulations, the Kirchhoffs can't control what goes on their neighbor's property.

"In a situation like that, we could have put a pig farm right next to their house," said Blumenthal.

"I think there are things a lot worse than a tower location that is going to be relatively trafficless and doesn't make any noise at night," he said.

Patrick Kirchhoff couldn't disagree more.

"I'd rather see a pig farm or a bunch of cows," he said.