During last week’s DeKalb County Regional Planning Commission meeting, the approval was given for a final subdivision plat, for the property located on Tater Knob Road in Liberty, for a new state funded public safety telecommunications tower. The new tower is being erected to improve 911 emergency radio communications in the western portion of the county.
“This is the DeKalb County Emergency Communications District final subdivision plat creating one proposed new lot from property larger than five acres located on Tater Knob Road,” said Tommy Lee, Director of the Upper Cumberland Development District, who serves as UCDD staff planner and advisor to DeKalb County.
State officials say the 300-foot tower is needed in the area to fix dead zones where emergency radios are unable to communicate with E-911, posing a risk to first responders, law enforcement, and area residents.
The proposed new lot would consist of 0.342 acres, is currently vacant, and would require a 28,675 square foot lot size variance and road frontage variance. Tater Knob Road is a public road not maintained by the county and will be strictly for establishing a telecommunications tower.
“It’s right across the street from another communications tower in Liberty,” said DeKalb ECD 911 Director Brad Mullinax. “The only thing we really need is electrical power to it. It already has electrical power built out. The state of Tennessee is going to be building this tower. I already have a letter of intent from them. It’s going to be about a two-million-dollar investment in Liberty. It’s an imperative thing for emergency communications.”
The original plans for the tower were for it to be built next to the Liberty/Dowelltown Fire Hall and EMS Station on property jointly owned by the towns of Dowelltown and Liberty but not in either city limits.
While Dowelltown had already approved the measure, the Town of Liberty had reservations. Many area residents complained that the massive tower would be an eyesore and asked why it could not be constructed in a more remote area. The main consensus was that all agreed that the tower was needed in the area, but the location at the fire hall was not suitable and would be a detriment to the neighboring homes and property owners. Liberty voted “No” to the tower at their November 2024 meeting. The new site for the tower is on private land.
