As they consider new housing, transportation needs, environmental impacts, educational facilities and a host of other concerns now and in the future, Volusia County’s planners must also take into account the needs and effects of military operations close to the west side of the county.
Federal mandates and state law now require the county’s professional land planners to consider training activities at the Jacksonville Bombing Range Complex Military Zone, which covers parts of Volusia closest to the area and the Ocala National Forest. Navy jet fighters and bombers use the range for bombing practice, dropping both inert — meaning non-exploding practice bombs — and live explosives. To practice safely, the air crews and their multimillion-dollar aircraft must be able to navigate freely, without hitting any objects at their flying levels and often flying at high speeds.
“They want to know where our towers are,” county Senior Planning Manager Patricia Smith told The Beacon. “We have two applications in right now.”
Towers have proliferated in the past several years, as more people use more and more mobile phones.
Although county planners said they do not know the numbers of the cell towers in the county, Property Appraiser Larry Bartlett told The Beacon, “There are 415 cell towers in Volusia County registered with the FCC [Federal Communications Commission].”
Smith also said a naval officer will travel from Jacksonville to attend the June 20 meeting of the county’s Planning and Land Development Regulation Commission to provide information about planning, land uses and military activities associated with the bombing range.
Land-use changes and rezoning, such as those requested for planned-unit developments, along with recommendations or actions taken by or pending before by reviewing and planning bodies, including the County Council, must also be offered up for comment by the Navy.
In addition, perhaps not so well known but available to anyone interested, the county’s state-required growth-management plan, also known as the comprehensive plan, has a military-planning element. Part of that provision deals with telecommunications towers.
“To protect aircraft navigability within the JBCMZ, the County will notify the Navy of any proposal for a structure of 200’ or higher within the Volusia County JBCMZ and grant the appropriate Navy representative an opportunity to comment on the proposed application,” the comprehensive plan reads.
“Applications for cell tower approval shall include written evidence from the Navy that the location and height of the tower will not adversely affect aircraft navigability within the JBCMZ,” the text continues.
The JBCMZ encompasses four sub-areas: the Pinecastle Range “and the associated Range Safety Zone (RSZ) C and the Lake George Range and the associated Restricted Airspace, R-2907A and R-2908B.”
The risk of a warplane striking a tower or other high object is real. In June 1991, a Navy A-6 Intruder whose pilot had completed a bombing practice mission, was flying northward when the jet struck a broadcasting tower in Pierson. A wing of the jet clipped the structure and knocked an Orlando TV station off the air. No one was injured in the aerial accident. The A-6 subsequently made an emergency landing in Jacksonville.
The county’s comprehensive plan’s military element calls for “protection of the Jacksonville Bombing Range Complex to encourage the long-term viability of the military mission at the Pinecastle and Lake George Range, [to] prevent encroachment that may degrade the training and readiness activities of the U.S. Navy, and facilitate the continued presence of the complex.”
As well as towers, the comp plan’s military element deals with outdoor lighting in the JBCMZ.
“The County will require lighting fixtures … including lights for parking lot and roadway safety, advertising signs, and lights for outdoor recreational facilities be fully shielded so that all light emitted by the fixtures projects below the horizontal direction,” the plan reads.
Not least, the military section of the growth plan covers radio transmissions.
“To minimize the risk of radio frequency interference (RFI) that may impact military flight operations,” the plan’s military element continues, “the County will require new major civilian spectrum operators within the JBCMZ, including industry, public safety agencies, telecommunications and broadcast media to provide technical parameters, … such as the maximum power authorized, the maximum antenna height, the amount of spectrum occupied by the transmitted signal and the geographic area to be served by the communication devices.”
Most of the Jacksonville training complex lies in other counties, such as Lake and Marion.
