BOURBON - The Board of Zoning Appeals on Monday granted a special use permit to Charles Hayes for the construction of a relay communications tower.

Hayes, of Charles Hayes Inc. of South Bend, will construct the tower on property on 12th Road. Hayes plans to purchase the land from Donald Hahn.

Hayes said the tower will be 180 feet tall and may be increased to 240 feet. It is being built to lease to Centennial Wireless and will be manufactured by Pyrod Towers of Plymouth. It will be of low power voltage, having only 100 watt transmitters.

Neighbors of the site asked if the operation of the tower would cause any interference of electronic equipment such as televisions and radios in their homes. Hayes assured them it would not affect such equipment, "but if for some fluky reason there is a problem, we'll fix it," he said.

He said the tower is constructed to collapse inward in case of a tornado or high wind and it will be fenced in. "There will be no daily traffic, only periodic maintenance, and it will not affect the adjacent properties," he added.

In other business, secretary Ellen Elliott asked the board to clarify the meaning of "a reasonable time" as used in the recently passed ordinance controlling mobile home placement in town.

The question came up in connection with the planned sale of a home belonging to the late Raymond Yount, which has a mobile home used as rental property on the same lot.

The Plan Commission on Monday denied renewal of the mobile home permit on the Yount property, and said the mobile home should be removed "in a reasonable time."

Mobile homes located in town require the annual renewal of the permit allowing them. The ordinance states that such homes must be moved or replaced with a manufactured home if they change ownership.

The board agreed that it was reasonable to give the new owner of a mobile home 30 days in which to remove it. [[In-content Ad]]