Leelanau Twp. Planners to decide
The Leelanau Township Planning Commission is set to continue its deliberations and make a decision on the proposed 200 ft. tall Kitchen Road communication tower at a special meeting today at 6:30 p.m. in the township’s fire department meeting room.
A public hearing was held Jan. 23 regarding the communication tower application for a special land use permit, with over 20 people in attendance via inperson and on Zoom. Following a preliminary zoning review in September 2024, an updated application was submitted and then discussed in November to cover an initial site plan review. The preliminary review is based on comparing the new application to the Leelanau Township zoning ordinance.
The public hearing closed almost an hour and a half into the meeting after Leelanau County Interim Administrator Richard Lewis and Emergency Management Director Matt Ansorge gave their project introduction and following lengthy public comment. Planning commissioners then had the chance to ask questions to county officials during review, taking action twice to extend the meeting past 9 p.m. to allow for further deliberation and public comment.
Leelanau Township Zoning Administrator Steve Patmore said commission members will need to go through the zoning ordinance section by section to decide if the application meets the ordinance going forward.
“You guys as a group have to determine what adverse impact and what essential character means to each one of you,” Patmore said to the board. “I anticipate each section you may have to take a vote on it and determine if the application meets that. We will do that if we have to... You can determine if it meets, does not meet, or meets with conditions on each one of the standards in the ordinance, and there are guidelines for establishing conditions. That’s something you need to think about and you need to gather as a group and go over that.”
The construction of a telecommunications tower in the township has been a pressing concern for people on both sides of the issue. Following the COVID-19 pandemic where many households relied on internet and cellular reception during lockdowns and work from home orders, a 2021 Leelanau county broadband inventory survey found Leelanau Township to be the most underserved population in the county. After the survey was completed, former Leelanau Township Supervisor John Sanders and his board started discussions with county officials about their cellular coverage shortfalls, passing a resolution urging the county to assist, as well as approving and committing $100,000 in ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) grant funds towards the project.
Over the past several years since the tower project was first introduced, dozens of township residents have written in correspondence to the Planning Commission both in support and against it. Many of those that wrote letters have also appeared at meetings to share their perspectives to commissioners. *** Leelanau County Undersheriff James Kiessel, who is also the chair of the 9-1-1 advisory committee, said the group wrote a letter in support of the tower, noting that the township, like much of Leelanau, has communication issues whether that’s radio or cell. He added that a “conservative number of 9-1-1 calls that go into the dispatch center are 80% cell calls,” and if they can add 400 houses (residents) to the system to get 9-1-1 calls, it will dramatically reduce response times.
In addition to the undersheriff ’s statement, the Leelanau Township Fire Department also wrote a letter in support, highlighting how they feel a tower would give better cell phone reception to both residents and visitors to the area. In the letter signed by Leelanau Township Fire Chief Hugh Cook and other department personnel, it says that the tower would not only serve 400 parcels, but it would give them “vital communications at Peterson Park, Christmas Cove, the west side of the township, to include the Cathead Bay area, and the lighthouse.”
“We have had emergency runs to Peterson Park where the injury happened at the bottom of the steps going to the beach. One of the persons in the party had to get to the top of the steps to find a spot for cell reception to call 911,” the letter reads. “We have had fires in the Cathead Bay area where we had to get in a vehicle and drive towards Northport to find cell reception to call the property owner. These are just a few of the situations the new tower would improve. Do we cater to a few residents that don’t want to see a tower or all the residents of Leelanau Township?”
Kathy Schaeffer of Omena, while not a resident of Northport, voiced her support of the tower at the hearing because it’s a “matter of public safety for everyone in the northern part of Leelanau Township.”
“Imagine a parent driving their child to school and skidding off an icy road. They can’t call 911 because they have no cell phone service up there…” Schaeffer said at the hearing. “Everyone around here jokes all the time about trying to get a cellphone signal. We’re all accustomed to restarting conversations or calling people back on a landline. You know the old joke in the commercial, ‘Can you hear me now?’ Well this is no joke, it’s a serious matter of public safety and it could become a matter of life and death.”
Many neighbors living near Kitchen Road, such as James Morse, who has been vocal against the project along with his family members at Planning Commission meetings, say not only will the tower cause health issues and not meet zoning ordinance standards, but it will also take away from the character of Northport.
“I’m in the Record Eagle quoted as saying I’m 100% in favor of the tower exactly in that spot if it meets the guidelines outlined in the master plan,” Morse said at the hearing. “For me it’s a health and safety issue on the other end, which I think you can all see. We both have valid points, which is why I hope we can come to some agreement where we meet all the guidelines — we provide cell service to everyone who wants it, but we don’t put this gigantic tower in this beautiful place…” Morse’s wife, Paris, also spoke during public comment, focusing on why she and others against the tower construction feel that the application does not meet the zoning ordinance.
“The master plan and zoning ordinances are in place for the common good and to protect the unique character of our community,” said Paris Morse. “This proposed tower would significantly degrade the essential character of the area. We’re talking about a tower the height of a 20 story building, with 5,000 square ft. of excavated area at the peak of a ridgeline. This would not only impact the area in which it is located, but also the skyline or Northport from the harbor, Braman Hill.”
Barbara Overdier and her husband, Jim, spoke on behalf of her mother, Ruth, who lives on Kitchen Road. They said they were against the tower for several reasons, starting with the point that many who moved to the area did so for its rural character.
“The straining (the tower) it will put on wildlife that live in this area. We’ve had bear, otter, bobcat, cougar in the area. I’ve seen sandhill cranes,” Barbara said. “It’s a rare place. It’s not everywhere USA and I don’t think it ever should be… It’s not just about aesthetics, it’s about the climate and the planet.”
According to the township’s zoning ordinance review of article 18: communication towers, there are additional areas of the township that can be served by the new tower due to increased elevation. While there is already a communications tower constructed in Northport, propagation maps submitted with the application show that adding more equipment to the existing tower would not adequately serve certain areas of the township. In the county’s application submitted in October, Verizon provided a letter of intent to colocate on the tower, but until a permit is finalized to construct one, receiving a formal commitment is challenging. However, the county is confident that it will be utilized by multiple carriers and is equipped to handle four cellular co-locations.
