ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – The appeal for a cell tower permit was denied during Tuesday’s St. Johns County Commission meeting.
The planning and zoning agency already denied the permit in July to build the cell tower next to a private cemetery in a St. Johns County neighborhood near Wildwood Drive.
But the applicant’s attorney argued that the denial decision was incorrect and unsupported, so an appeal was filed.
Residents who voiced opposition were worried the tower would be an eyesore and lower their home values.
“We recently bought this house like three years ago. If we’d known they were going to, we never even would have considered this, buying this house,” Scott Ammons, a resident, said.
Mary Lou Storen, who lived nearby, felt the same.
“I don’t think it’s right,” she said. “My phone works good.”
An orange sign near the site showed the public notice of the proposed 150-foot cell phone tower on land that also includes Hughes Cemetery.
Ammons added, “The property value would go down; that neighborhood property value will go down. The neighborhood around the other side would go down. I don’t understand why they would even consider it.”
County records showed 23 letters of opposition and only one letter in support of the proposed tower.
A similar tower was already being built near Wildwood Drive near Freedom Church, close to the same neighborhood, according to county records.
St. Johns County has about 160 cell towers, according to a county map obtained by News4JAX.
According to county records, the planning and zoning agency said the project was not compatible with surrounding residential uses.
News4JAX’s attempts to reach the applicant for comment were unsuccessful.