The estimated $250,000, 85-foot cell phone tower, owned by Ignite Wireless, LLC and erected in spring 2022 on the CSX right-of-way near the corner of Sydney and Turkey Creek Roads, may have to be disassembled and taken down.
At the Plant City City Commission regular meeting March 25, the commission voted 4-0, with Mayor Nathan Kilton abstaining, to deny an ordinance to rezone property at the CSX right-of-way on the west side of Turkey Creek Road and south of Sydney Road from light industrial to Planned Development District.
The motion to deny included a directive to City Attorney Ken Buchman to prepare a resolution with written findings for the denial and to bring the resolution back to the City Commission at the April 8 meeting for their approval.
The tower is owned by Ignite Wireless, LLC based in Cumming, Georgia and was erected in spring 2022. It was constructed even though Ignite Wireless didn’t submit a site development plan to the Plant City Planning & Zoning department before construction. The tower is also reportedly not in compliance with zoning regulations and the aesthetic standards or the area.
The city was recommended to consider adopting an ordinance to rezone the .14 acres with associated specific approval requests although that wasn’t the result.
According to a Planning and Zoning Division Staff Report, Ignite Wireless had also requested specific approvals for rezoning: an approximately 14-foot setback from the tower edge and five feet from ground equipment to the south side property line in lieu of the required 50 feet distance; a setback distance of 242 feet from a residential district in lieu of the required 250 feet distance; and approval to allow the tower compound site not to provide landscaping around the perimeter fencing.
The Planning Board met Jan. 24 and found the requested rezoning inconsistent with Plant City Code of Ordinances.
Bill McDaniel, Plant City City Manager, said the March 25 public hearing was the last reviewing step in the rezoning process after going before the Plant City Planning Board and the city commission.
“They heard the evidence and made their decision. The city attorney will present his findings at the April 8 meeting and then it will be up to the parties involved what the next step is,” he said Tuesday.
Efforts to get comments from Ignite Wireless were unsuccessful by press time.