A Petersburg cell tower proposal died without a second

A cell tower plan nearly a year in the making died at the Petersburg Borough Planning Commission on Tuesday. When a commissioner moved to approve the subdivision the tower needed, no one would second the motion, and it failed on the spot.

The resolution would have carved a 10,036-square-foot lo for a tower sought by the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. Neighbors had lined up against it.

Nicole McLaren, who lives adjacent to the lot on Seenum Street, questioned whether a cell tower even fits the site's open-space zoning. "I don't see a cell tower as a government building," she said. "That seems like quite a stretch." Treated instead as a conditional use, she noted, a 35-foot height cap would likely make the tower unworkable anyway.

Others pressed safety. One resident, who said she has testified at every assembly and commission meeting on towers since October, urged commissioners to weigh fall zones, noting that a childcare provider walks children past the site. At an earlier hearing on the borough's tower ordinance, Tom Kowalski warned against "risking damage to our fire hall, our only fire hall," and pointed out that the towers going up carry 300 gallons of diesel fuel underneath.

The vote doesn't end Petersburg's tower fight. The commission has been drafting a communications facility overlay to pre-designate tower sites and streamline siting, but said Tuesday it will wait for the assembly to finalize the wireless facilities ordinance first. Commissioner Joshua Adams has argued a good overlay could protect property values and preserve land for housing while still allowing needed infrastructure. The overlay returns as an action item Aug. 11.