Windmill/Cell PhoneTower Idea Meets Approval

Preserved Farm Allowed to
Move Ahead With Dual Project

Chris Torres
Staff Writer

FRANCONIA TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A special meeting of the Franconia Township Zoning Hearing Board Wednesday gave approval to what is believed to be the first windmill/cell phone tower on a preserved farm in the state.

By a 3-0 margin, the board gave approval to T-Mobile and the Yoder family farm to construct a 163-foot-tall windmill, with a 140-foot-tall cell phone tower attached to it on the family’s preserved farm in Telford, Pa.

The project has riled a few people in the small community about 20 miles north of Philadelphia.

But board members approved the project, with one stating that it was necessary to help out farmers in the area.

“Anything that can be done to help out ag in the community is a good thing,” said Judith Stangl, board member.

The decision is now open to a 30-day appeal period.

David Yoder, son of L. Merle and Martha Yoder, the farm’s owners, said he was pleased with the decision and that the family sees the project as an opportunity to create some extra income from the farm.

Yoder farms 45 acres on Cowpath Road and has 50 head of steers. The farm has been in the family since the 1800s and was placed in farmland preservation a few years ago.

About a year ago, T-Mobile approached the family about attaching a cell phone tower to a silo at the farm.

But the cell phone company found the silo was not tall enough to support its tower, so the company came up with the idea of constructing a windmill with the cell phone tower attached to it.

The windmill, which will cost around $65,000, will be paid jointly by the company and the Yoder family.

Electricity generated from the structure will be used to generate electricity on the farm, with additional power being sold back to the electrical grid.

The plan has met with opposition from some of Yoder’s neighbors, with some worried about how safe the structure will be and others concerned about the possible health effects of putting a cell phone tower in the community.

One of the most vocal opponents to the plan has been farmer Andy Wharton, who farms 18.9 acres of land next to Yoder.

He has opposed the plan because he feels the cell phone tower’s construction works against the idea of preserving farmland and he questioned whether the project should be allowed on a permanently preserved farm.

“I don’t see this as farmland preservation,” Wharton said. “Everybody needs to be asking the question whether this should be allowed on preserved farms. Once you open the gate, the cows get out.”

On the decision Wednesday, “it’s a huge disappointment. It sets a dangerous precedent on what can be allowed on preserved farms,” Wharton said.

Christopher Schubert, attorney for T-Mobile, said the company spoke with and got approval from the county’s farmland preservation administrator because the windmill will be used to provide power to the farm and would thus considered a part of the farm.

Elizabeth Emlen, senior farmland preservation administrator for Montgomery County, could not be reached for comment on the story.

Doug Wolfgang, director of the state’s Bureau of Farmland Preservation, said counties are allowed to make their own rules regarding cell phone antennas and towers being allowed on preserved farms.

However, final approval must be given by the state.

Wolfgang, who noted he was not familiar with this project, said he knows of only two counties, neither of which is Montgomery County, that have passed language allowing renewable energy structures on already existing farm structures on preserved farms.

He also noted that some counties have approved the use of communication devices like cell phone towers on preserved farms, but again, they would only be allowed on existing farm structures and only after getting approval from the state.