Habersham’s proposed E911 tower move leaves lease payment and final terms unsettled

Habersham County commissioners discussed an amended lease July 15, 2024, for a proposed E911 radio tower site owned by Larry Mize at 1397 Piedmont Mountain Road. E911/EMA Director Lynn Smith asked the board to raise the monthly payment from $1,200 to $1,350 after the county shifted the proposed tower location on the property, but the meeting minutes do not record whether commissioners approved the amendment.

The unresolved decision concerns both emergency-radio infrastructure and an ongoing public payment to use private land. Smith said the revised location could save the county roughly $300,000 by avoiding grading and retaining-wall work, while placing the tower where it would be visible from the landowner’s front porch. The proposed $150 monthly increase is therefore tied to a tradeoff between construction costs and the effect of the facility’s placement on the property owner.

The county’s consideration of the site predates the amendment. Commissioners were scheduled on May 15, 2023, to consider a lease agreement with Mize for the Laurel radio tower site, though that agenda item does not state an outcome. By July 2024, staff returned with a changed site plan: relocating the proposed tower, according to Smith’s presentation, would avoid costly terrain work but required reconsidering the lease payment.

County staff framed the relocation as a cost-saving measure for the E911 project, citing avoided grading and retaining-wall expenses. Mize’s interest was directly affected by the new placement because Smith said the tower would be visible from his front porch; the requested higher monthly payment appears in the discussion as part of the amended arrangement. The records identify the commission as the body considering the request, but do not attribute individual comments or positions to commissioners.

What the record establishes is a proposal and discussion, not an executed amendment. The July 15 agenda and minutes document staff’s request to move the tower and raise the lease payment to $1,350 per month. They do not show a vote, adoption, rejection, different negotiated amount or construction of the tower. The original lease and the full amended-lease text are not included, leaving other terms unresolved as well.

The next public step would be a later commission resolution or meeting minute, or an executed amended lease, that shows whether the relocation and higher payment took effect. Until then, the documented record does not resolve whether Habersham County accepted the $1,350 monthly arrangement, retained another tower plan or took no final action on the proposed amendment.