DATE: Thursday, July 17, 1997               TAG: 9707170501

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JOHN-HENRY DOUCETTE, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: SUFFOLK                           LENGTH:   39 lines

COUNCIL OKS COMMUNICATION TOWER IN SUFFOLK

The City Council on Wednesday unanimously approved a request to build a telecommunications antenna tower near Chuckatuck.

PrimeCo Personal Communication of West Lakes, Texas, will build a 150-foot tower along Godwin Boulevard. After a separate hearing, the council approved a permit for PrimeCo to place a second antenna within an existing Virginia Power tower.

PrimeCo offers wireless telephone communications with caller identification, voice mail, call waiting and all the trappings of cellular phones - except with digital technology.

Glenn W. Hampton, an attorney representing the company, told council members the ``necessary evils'' of the towers will help PrimeCo better cover the region.

Such antenna coverage, according to Vice Mayor Charles F. Brown, will become a concern as Suffolk grows and the need for communications support increases.

``I'd rather see the use of existing towers,'' Brown said, though he helped approve both permits. ``I don't want Suffolk to be swamped with towers.''

The pending spike is part of an influx of communication towers in Hampton Roads, and many of the towers are owned by industry giants such as AT&T.

PrimeCo is a newer, smaller outfit, but it is growing and already has several antennas in place throughout Hampton Roads.

The planning commission agreed unanimously to recommend the company's request June 17, a few days before city officials ordered a stop-work order for another telecommunications antenna being built along a stretch of Interstate 664 in the northern part of this city.

That one belonged to AT&T.

Suffolk halted work on the site because plans had not been approved by either the planning commission or City Council, even though a resource-sharing agreement between the telecommunications giant and the commonwealth allows building along interstates without seeking permission from localities.

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