Paul Hunsinger wanted to move to Leelanau County, build and work out of his dream home.

Now, a nearly 90-foot tower and antenna he had built at his home to receive high-speed wireless Internet service has some neighbors concerned that towers are going to start springing up all over.

Hunsinger found the right piece of property, off Gill’s Pier Road in Leelanau Township, and built his home. To hook up with the Florida company for which he works, Hunsinger needed high-speed Internet access. Since Gill’s Pier Road is not serviced by cable television, Hunsinger thought he had only two options: high-speed access through a satellite provider; or driving to Leland each day to use the wireless broadband Internet service provided by the Leland Township Library.

He initially chose the latter option.

“Driving to Leland each day and spending the entire work day in Leland isn’t so bad in the summer, but I did not want to be doing that in the winter,” he said. After spending the last 40 years in Florida, Hunsinger said he wasn’t looking forward to navigating snow-covered roads each day in the winter. He added that while satellite Internet offers excellent downloading speeds, uploads are much slower and would not work for the kind of network Hunsinger needs to do his job.

In fall 2006, Hunsinger read about Cherry Capital Connections, an Elk Rapids-based wireless Internet provider that is offering high-speed Internet access in Leelanau County. After talking with company officials this year, he decided to go with their wireless plan. But to receive a signal at his home along the Lake Michigan shoreline, Hunsinger needed an 88-foot tower erected, which places the antenna well above the tree tops along Gill’s Pier Road.

He said he had concerns about the tower being too tall and asked company officials about any possible local zoning problems.

Hunsinger said he was told by company officials that since the towers are considered telecommunication devices, they fall under the authority of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and are exempt from local zoning rules.

Cherry Capital also has a contract with the county to provide wireless Internet service to the new Government Center under construction and the County Jail. The firm already has antennas on existing communication towers in Northport, Suttons Bay and on the county’s main tower off of Pit Road.

Lee Bowen, a Gill’s Pier resident and chair of the county Road Commission, said the county Economic Development Corporation should have anticipated the problem before advocating for that type of wireless Internet service.

“Are we going to have 90-foot tall towers every 100 feet up and down our road? This is something that needed to be looked at before the county started pushing this service,” Bowen said. He said the people who live along Gill’s Pier Road can’t see the tower, though it’s visible from a distance.

The tower and antenna went up Monday, Oct. 15, and the next day Leelanau Township zoning administrator Deborah Serwin received a call from Paul Fischer, who lives near the Gill’s Pier area.

“He said he could see a small tower sticking out of the trees along Gill’s Pier Road and wondered if people were allowed to do that,” she said. Fischer was unavailable before the Enterprise went to press.

Serwin said Leelanau Township has a communications tower ordinance, but it’s almost 10 years old and does not address the Hunsinger tower. The ordinance was enacted to prevent proliferation of towers throughout the township with cell phone provider antennas. The ordinance does allow towers over 60 feet in residentially zoned areas if it is owned and operated by a federally licensed amateur radio station operator or is used exclusively for receiving a signal, like from a television station.

Serwin said she has taken no action since she considers the issue a gray area. The township Planning Commission will discuss the matter at its meeting tonight at 7 o’clock. Serwin said everyone involved has been pleasant, and she is confident something can be worked out. “This topic deserved a lot of discussion,” she said.

Tom Maylone, general manager of Cherry Capital Communications, said Hunsinger is the only customer in the county who has required such a tall tower to receive service.

Maylone said his company is willing to work with local townships, but said ultimately FCC authority trumps local zoning. “We want to have an open discussion with all the townships on this. We are more than willing to reach some sort of compromise,” he said.

Hunsinger said he is willing to go along with whatever the township wants, but needs the service. He said his choice was either having a very tall tower, or taking down a lot of trees for a different type of antenna.

“I did not want to lose a lot of my trees, so I went this route,” he said.

Webmaster note: The planning commission meeting was held Thursday, Oct. 25.