Rebecca Harvey, N1GZD writes on bars@hamoperators.com:
Some of you may know that the town of Acton is trying to change the tower zoning laws with respect to ham radio antenna towers.
The current law as it stands today only permits ham tower structures to be about 40 feet (simplification – it can be lower in some cases). When the town of Acton was made aware of the federal and state laws they decided that the town ham tower zoning ordinance was too restrictive. The proposed new ordinance would permit one 80-foot tower (yes, only one).
To my amazement, at the zoning board meeting [on February 22, 2005] we (hams of Acton – who accounted for most of the people in the room) succeeded in convincing them to go one step further. In the end they voted almost unanimously (all but the chairman) to essentially put the words “except ham radio towers” in the town tower ordinance. By this they mean that the way it is written they are now proposing that there be NO town zoning ordinance governing ham radio towers in Acton. After we explained the Federal (and state) laws to them they decided that they had no choice. It is my understanding that this is what the town of Harvard did.
However, I think that getting it by the planning board was the easy part. Convincing 2/3 of the people of Acton that this is a good idea will be very hard. If it fails then the planning board has to start all over (and in the meanwhile we are stuck dealing with the more restrictive ordinance that still stands). I don’t know when the vote will be but anyone who is on this list and lives in Acton should make sure to vote.