Commission hears presentation on cell tower policy

Cheboygan Daily Tribune (MI)

Jan. 05--CHEBOYGAN COUNTY- The Cheboygan County Road Commission recently heard a presentation defending its policy and fees regarding wireless communications towers in its road right of way.

Road Commission Engineer and Manager Brent Shank said the Michigan County Road Commission Self Insurance Pool put together a video explaining why a unified stance needs to be taken statewide with the private utilities.

The video explained a right of way is the legal right of passage along a specific route. It is up to the road commissions to maintain these right of ways, making safe and convenient routes for residents to travel.

However, the commissions are facing an uphill battle to keep the roadways safe when private companies are allowed to abandon property in the right of way.

Typically, the right of way on roads is 66 feet, with the traveled portion of county highways generally being much narrower, around 30 feet wide. The facilities have been allowed to locate outside of the traveled portion in the same space occupied by the shoulders, drainage ditches and traffic signs. It has been up to the road commission to make sure these new utilities do not undermine the original and primary purpose of the roads, the public's right to use them for safe travel.

There are times when vehicles leave the roadway for mechanical issues or other reasons and any obstruction in the right of way could cause a safety hazard.

In order to maintain this, road commissions are allowed to charge fees to those who want to put the utilities in the right of way. The commissions do not generate revenue from these permits and can only charge the actual cost for the review of the issuance of the permit and inspect the facility once it is installed.

However, several years ago, road commissions learned the hard way that the actual process associated with the permit is the cost of removing the facilities when they are no longer useful.

There are companies who install facilities in the right of way, such as power poles or wireless communication towers, then, when they go bankrupt or out of business, they have no incentive to remove their infrastructure from the right of way and abandon them. It is then up to the road commission to remove them.

Brian Gutowski, Engineer and Manager of the Emmet County Road Commission gave the example of a cable company who abandoned around 30 miles of cable and poles in Emmet County after it went out of business. This has caused several safety concerns due to drooping cables and leaning poles.

There was a similar situation in Burt Township, where the township had to remove around eight miles of cable when the company went out of business.

Shank said the video was presented to the legislature because the private utility discussion is a hot topic. It is important the commissions stay on top of the issue and talk to the legislators any chance they can to make them aware of the concerns.

The road commission and other local governments need the ability to require that the permits insure that the companies guarantee their facilities will be removed from the right of way in the event something happens without cost to the public. This can be done through some form of refundable security.

In order to put this security in place, the Cheboygan County Road Commission has come up with a fee schedule that includes a non-refundable deposit to provide the funds needed to remove the facility from the right of way.

"We need to stick with the policy that we passed and consider it after we've actually gotten to use it a few times, if we want to make changes," said Shank. "They're suggesting we change it right away, but I think that we need to let that thing play out a little bit, see how it works, in use first."

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