[nrv-hams] Tower ordinance meetings

[Kay Craigie]

First, the public hearing before the Planning Commission is September 11 at
7 PM, not 7:30 as I think I wrote before. That's according to the agenda
posted on the county government web site. 

At this meeting the planning commission will accept public input and will
take a vote on the proposed ordinance. I intend to be there. The location is
the government services building, 755 Roanoke Street, Christiansburg, in the
2nd floor board room. This is a public meeting, and anyone can attend. We
are 4th on the agenda of proposals. No telling just when they will get
around to us.

After the planning commission acts, the ordinance will go to the Board of
Supervisors for a public hearing and final decision.

Last night (September 9), I spoke about amateur radio and the proposed
ordinance at a meeting of the Board of Supervisors. This was strictly
informational, and no action was taken. The reaction to my comments was very
positive. The chairman of the Board of Supervisors was the only member of
the board to respond. He said that when he was a kid in Minnesota he had
become aware of amateur radio's work with what was then called Civil
Defense. We call it emergency management now. He was very complimentary in
his remarks.

As I understand it, the Board of Supervisors will take up the ordinance at
their September 23 meeting. Carter and I must be out of town (actually out
of the USA) at that time. I believe that Bob McGwier N4HY will be able to
attend, however, to make sure there is at least one knowledgeable and
articulate ham in the room who knows about antennas and towers. Of course,
having more than one would be fine.

The chairman of the Supervisors comments remind me that although not
everybody needs to be a ham radio operator, ham radio needs all the friends
it can get. This man formed a good impression of ham radio when he was a
kid. Now many years later in another part of the country he is in a position
of authority, and his good opinion of our radio service may turn out to be
very important. We never know, when we are good ambassadors for ham radio,
how our actions will be beneficial somewhere, somehow, way down the time
line, for hams whose names we will never know.

73 - Kay N3KN