The Joys of Getting Council Approval for a Tower

Yesterday I had an appointment with the Beaudesert Shire Council (Town Planner) with regards to submitting my documents to gain approval to erect a 15m (49ft) amateur radio tower on my property.

Now it seems that no-one has ever submitted an application for an amateur radio tower in this Shire before. Well, at least not the way he has asked me to do it. It seems that he has led me down the path of submitting an application the same way a Telco would submit an application for a mobile (cell) phone tower. The charges would be $1600AUD (non-refundable) for the submission and then another $1600AUD on top of that if it is approved. Time frame is anywhere between 2 to 6 months.

I sent an e-mail to Kev at One Man Tower after the meeting just letting him know how the meeting went. Kev has done a lot of hard work especially when it comes to getting Council approval. Unfortunately, we don't live in the same Shire but the documents (specs/pad footings/etc) that Kev has produced will go along way is helping his customers get approval.

Kev promptly sent a reply telling me that they are making me apply under the Town Plan which was written to boost their coffers from the Commercial Communications providers. His recommendation was to inform them that I was a hobbyist erecting an antenna mast on my own private property which comes under the "Right to Use" laws. A hobbyist permit cost approx $135AUD which sounds a lot better that $3200AUD.

I've sent the Shire Council an e-mail with this information and will hopefully get a reply early next week. I'll keep you posted.

On another note, my brother Steve VK4VSP and I were due to finish our last dive tomorrow to complete our Open Water Dive Course but Steve has come down with the flu so it has now been postponed for a couple more weeks.