BellSouth Mobility

cell phone customers won't get any better reception in south Fayette County

anytime soon.

Company officials

wanted to erect a 253-foot tower on Harp Road to fill in a "dead

spot" in the area, and Calvin Appling, who lives across the road

from the tower site, said he has no problem with it.

"Me and

the cows and the deer don't mind," he said.

But about 30

of his neighbors stood up to say they do mind, with 12 of them going to

the microphones to state their objections formally, and county commissioners

last week unanimously rejected the company's request for a tower permit.

Ron Mundy,

vice president of the Surrey Park Homeowners Association, said everyone

in the neighborhood was opposed to the tower. "There are other agencies

that provide adequate service in this area," he said, so the tower

isn't needed.

Michael Tyler

of BellSouth said the tower would be on a wooded, 150-acre site and not

that visible to neighbors, but Mundy said the site is not as wooded as

company officials claim. "You do not raise cows in a wooded area,"

he said.

Fred Payne,

president of the Willow Pond Airport Homeowners Association, also argued

that the tower would be near that airport and, although it might be fine

in normal conditions, the tower would be a hazard to any disabled airplane

that might be landing there.

BellSouth's

Tyler argued that any concerns over the airport would be addressed by

the Federal Aviation Administration, and pointed out that the tower would

be 1,000 feet from the nearest home.

But commissioners

pointed out that, if the permit were granted, an exception would be needed

to the county's ordinance requiring a two-mile separation between towers.

"If we're going to go 253 feet, we can at least stick with the two

miles," said Commissioner Linda Wells.

Commission

Chairman Greg Dunn encouraged BellSouth to try again. "I hope you

will find a better place in Fayette County to put it," he said, "because

we need better cell service in Fayette County."

Commissioners

also denied developer Dan Stinchcomb's request for a zoning change to

allow 23 home sites on 34.8 acres on Westbridge Road.

Rebecca Pell,

who lives on six acres nearby, told commissioners the Westbridge area

is characterized by farm and estate parcels like hers. "Stop the

feeding frenzy in the county and consider leaving this area zoned as it

is," she said.

Although there

is a neighborhood zoned for one-acre lots across the road from the proposed

subdivision, the homes along the road are on five-acre sites, which was

done as a transition, to make sure land on the west side of the road remains

in five-acre development, said Dunn. "We put the five-acre parcels

along Westbridge Road so it would be compatible with the other property,"

he said.

Commissioner

Wells also pointed out that the area is a groundwater recharge area. "That's

something we're going to have to be more and more cognizant of,"

she said.

Commissioners

unanimously approved changes to the county's soil erosion and sedimentation

control ordinances, to bring the law into conformity with new state regulations.

"The state

has had problems with developers not respecting those buffer zones and

it's affecting our water quality," said county engineer Ron Salmons.

Among changes to the ordinance are minimum fines for violations. Previously,

there were maximums but no minimums.