By Focus Staff
U.S. Cellular has posted a Public Notice for the people of Fox Den and Village Green in Farragut. Under a 2018 Tennessee state law, cellular phone towers may be placed in the front yard of any residence in the right of way. These towers may be as tall as forty feet. U.S. Cellular has not disclosed what kind of transmissions the tower will have. It may be 5G, 4G, or both. The Public Notice is listed below. There is a thirty-day comment period for the public.
The Farragut Planning Commission will meet this Thursday, June 18 at 7:00 p.m. in the Farragut Town Hall. There is no public access to the Town Hall due to Governor Bill Lee and the Knox County Health Department’s orders regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. Meeting comments may be emailed to comments@townoffarragut.org and must be received by 12:00 p.m. on June 18 to be included in the record of the meeting. Anyone that wishes to provide comments must include their name and address. For questions please e-mail Mark Shipley at mshipley@townoffarragut.org or Bart Hose at bhose@townoffarragut.org.
Farragut resident Laura Squires has protested this closed meeting in an email to Farragut Town Administrator David Smoak. Squires wrote, “On behalf of those who wish to participate in a public forum on this topic, I ask that agenda item 9 be delayed until in-person public forum can resume. I just spoke to Knox County Commission and they are hosting a meeting on Monday, June 15 and it is open to the public and public comment is allowed. Why are the Town of Farragut and Knox County operating differently regarding public forum? Again, I request the agenda item 9 be delayed until in-person public comment can resume.”
The agenda item reads: Discussion on the development of an aesthetic plan for new vertical utility infrastructure within public rights of ways (Town of Farragut, Applicant).
Since January of this year, hundreds of Farragut residents have attended Planning Commission meetings on 5G cellular towers. In each meeting, there have been many residents speaking to the issue and in Citizen’s Forum. Farragut residents may reach out to the mayor and aldermen to request this item be postponed until the people may attend in person. The main number for the mayor and aldermen is (865)966-7057.
PUBLIC NOTICE
Notice of Initiation of the Section 106 Process-Public Participation in accordance with the FCC’s Nationwide Programmatic Agreement. U.S. Cellular intends to construct a communications facility at an address approximately .01 mile north of the intersection of E Fox Den & Weathervane Dr, Farragut, Knox County, TN (Latitude: N35 53 6.6 and Longitude: W84 11 4.4). The facility will include a utility/street light pole telecommunications tower with an approximate overall height of 38 ft. and associated equipment. U.S. Cellular is publishing this notice in accordance with Federal Communications Commission regulations (47 CFR § 1.1307) for Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) and for the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). We respectfully request that parties interested in commenting on this Federal undertaking relative to potential effects on cultural or historic properties or with questions on the proposed facility should contact GSS, Inc., 3311 109th Street, Urbandale, IA 50322; Ph. (515) 331-2103 within 30 days of the posting of this notice. (GSS #W20216)
