Mathews supervisors’ chair Tim Doss repeatedly expressed embarrassment and apologized to residents during the board’s November meeting last Thursday when a scheduled public hearing on a Verizon Wireless request to construct a telecommunications tower on private property in Cobbs Creek had to be postponed at the last minute.
Shortly into Verizon Wireless’s presentation on the application, County Attorney Andrea Erard told the board that she had questions about safety issues, such as the fall radius of the tower, and that the county needed assurances that emergency services could co-locate equipment on the tower.
Clearly frustrated, Doss pointed out that it was the second time in less than 12 months that a public hearing on a conditional use permit had to be postponed.
“I’m very disappointed that we have to go through this again,” he said. “So where’s the breakdown with this process so it doesn’t happen again? Did it not come to you first? Is that what we need to do?” Erard told Doss tha...