VERONA, Va. (WHSV) – The Augusta County Board of Supervisors voted to adopt a resolution supporting the dissolution of the National Radio Quiet Zone (NRQZ) for better emergency service communication.

The National Radio Quiet Zone is the area surrounding two Department of Defense (DOD) facilities in West Virginia:

• Green Bank Observatory in Pocahontas County, West Virginia
• Sugar Grove Station in Pendleton County, West Virginia

Zones have restrictions on the power levels of communications towers, limiting the signal capabilities of a single tower.

To cover the same area as a regular tower, there often needs to be auxiliary towers built to cover dead zones.

The board heard from Rick Gillespi – the emergency communications director for Pendleton County – about the need to adopt new regulations to either dissolve the NRQZ or build additional towers funded by the federal government.

Gillespi’s concern stems from remote locations in the NRQZ. People visiting national forests and state parks in the area may not have the same emergency communication as in other parts of the United States due to the NRQZ’s low power emission rule.

At the meeting of the board of directors on October 23, The Augusta County Board of Supervisors voted 4-3 to pass the resolution on behalf of Gillespi and several West Virginia counties. In their resolution, the board agreed with other resolutions filed in other counties that quiet zone regulations have not kept up with modern technologies.

In the resolution, the council agreed to dissolve the zone altogether or urge federal agencies to provide funding because the burden should not be borne by local government.

According to Augusta County Administrator Tim Fitzgerald, this resolution would not prevent an ongoing major project in the Greater Augusta area. He said there will be no additional tower construction, but current towers will be powered more, making signal access greater in those areas.

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