Published: July 02, 2008 08:26 am      

Planners approve Joe Lick Knob cell tower

In a 5-2 vote, the Madison County Planning Commission approved a development plan Tuesday evening for a cellular telephone tower on Joe Lick Knob south of Kingston near the intersection of US 421 and KY 1016.

The application was almost identical to one the commission rejected 4-3 on May 20, said County Planning and Codes Administrator Duane Curry.

Commissioners Paula Maionchi and William Whitt, who had opposed it in May, voted in favor of the tower upon second consideration. They were joined by

Robert Farmer, Gary Hart and Wanda Pennington.

Commissioners David Bohannon and Chandler Combs voted against the application.

The applicant wanted to offer new information about the historical significance of Joe Lick Knob and the possibility of alternate site to serve the southeast corner of the county, Curry said.

The 190-foot tower would sit on a shelf on the knob’s north face and would rise only about 75 feet above its peak, said Louisville attorney Paul Whitty, who represented the applicant, Boulevard Properties LLC. The property is owned by Scott Rowlett.

Joe Lick Knob is not mentioned in the county’s comprehensive plan or in the bicentennial history that the Madison County Historical Society published in 1986, Whitty said.

The national and state historical registries do not name the knob as a historical site on which development should be prevented, and the Battle of Richmond Association does not include the knob in its list of the battle’s eight stations, he said.

The county’s comprehensive plan requires only a 500-foot green-space buffer around historic sites, Whitt said. Battlefield park is almost four miles away.

Lexington attorney Fred Fugazzi Jr., retained by William and Nancy Coble, who also own land on Joe Lick Knob, including its peak, questioned Mike

Johnson, an engineer for cell tower operator Cellular One, about alternate locations.

Other sites were explored, Johnson said, but Joe Lick Knob was optimally suited to serve areas south of Kingston, including Jackson Hollow, Red Lick and Big Hill.

If the Joe Lick Knob site is denied, Johnson said two or three towers would be required to cover the same area.

The tower must be near enough to Interstate 75 to which it would need to relay signals, he said. It also cannot be so close to Jackson County that its signal would interfere with those of another company which owns that franchise.

County emergency services also would be given free access to transmit radio signals from the tower, Whitty said.

Madison County Emergency Medical Service Director Jimmy Cornelison and Judge-Executive Kent Clark both spoke in support of the application.

US 421 through Jackson Hollow has more fatal accidents than any other stretch of road in the county, Cornelison said. Motorists who witness accidents cannot report them by cell phone unless they drive north to US 421’s intersection with KY 1016, he said.

Daily traffic on the road numbered 3,410 vehicles in 2006, Whitty said.

The 2008 estimate is near 4,000.

Cornelison cited the case of an accident victim trapped for three hours in a car and was not rescued until a passerby noticed the wheels of his vehicle sticking up from a ravine.

“The trapped man had a cell phone, but he could not call for help because there is no cellular coverage there,” he said.

Emergency vehicles may be able to communicate via radio in the area, but “Sometimes you don’t want to put information on the radio that anyone can pick up,” Cornelison said.

That was the case, when as coroner, he helped investigate a murder in Big Hill and police were still searching for a suspect, Cornelison said.

“Not many counties have as much history as Madison County has,” Clark said, “but no fiscal court has done nearly as much as ours to help preserve that history,” including the acquisition of land for Battlefield Park

Maionchi questioned speakers, including Robert Moody and Robert Grise, who cited the historic significance of the knob as reason to deny the application.

“Does just the mention of Joe Lick Knob in an historical text make it worthy of protection?” asked Maionchi.

She also questioned the significance on a night-time skirmish at the foot of Joe Lick Knob prior to the Battle of Richmond.

“When does an event become significant enough to warrant preservation?” asked Maionchi, who said she was led to believe at the May meeting that the knob had played a larger role in the Battle of Richmond.

One proposed site, Robe Mountain, is an American Indian burial ground, said Maionchi, who said she had done research of her own since the May meeting..

At least two other cell towers, two water towers and two warning sirens on telephone poles already are visible from the Battlefield Park, Maionchi said.

“The area isn’t exactly pristine,” she said.

Near the end of the meeting, which lasted almost three hours, Commissioner David Bohannon said the applicant still had not shown that Joe Lick Knob was the only possible site for the cell tower.

“There is never only one possible site,” he said.

In other action, the commission approved a development plan for Cornerstone Baptist Church on Goggins Lane. The church plans to add two offices, three classrooms and a foyer to its existing building.

Bill Robinson can be reached at brobinson@richmondregister.com or 623-1669, Ext. 267.