Members of the Buckingham County Board of Supervisors approved a cellular tower during its meeting Monday after a public hearing.

Applicant Beacon Towers VA, LLC, applied for a special use permit to construct a 195-foot monopole telecommunications tower proposed to be located on approximately 94 acres at 13664 S. Constitution Route.

The property is owned by Freddy Snoddy and is zoned as Agricultural-1, the special use permit application for the tower cited.

The tower will be used to improve coverage for company U.S. Cellular in the county. The tower would also be designed for five competitors of U.S. Cellular to potentially bring other companies to the area.

The board approved a 310-foot lattice communications tower for Verizon in 2008 on the same property, but the project never went forward.

Quinn Robinson, Buckingham District Four resident, spoke about the project and encouraged the board to consider land owned by the county to generate revenue in place of private properties.

He also suggested that companies let the county know where they would like to place potential towers, and the county would then advertise the potential areas to residents.

“Any priorities should be given to the county to place these telecom towers on public land if possible,” Robinson said.

Planning and Zoning Director Rebecca Cobb and District Four Supervisor Morgan Dunnavant said the county’s policy is to consider public property before privately owned land.

“If we own the county property in the vicinity of where the cell tower is proposed, the cell tower (company) looks at that county property first before it begins any negotiations with private landowners,” Dunnavant said.

Snoddy and Jonathan Yates with Hellman, Yates and Tisdale representing Beacon Towers, who attended the hearing, gave the exact location of the proposed tower in reference to their property.

Shirley Leffel, who lives adjacent to Snoddy and would be approximately 600 feet from the proposed site, said she was concerned about the tower’s close proximity to her and her family’s property.