Web Extra!
Admittedly, Gregory Gately's home in Brookfield is covered in antennas. A ham radio operator for years, Gately connects with fellow enthusiasts from all over the area. Between the two 60-foot towers and a forest of more than 30 roof antennas, his Monroe Avenue bungalow resembles a Gothic monument to wireless communication.
On Feb. 11, however, he received an unwelcome message from the Village of Brookfield's code department. It was delivered in person and read, "Remove all antennae from entire property. ASAP." He had seven days to comply, according to the yellow maintenance violation notice signed by inspector Carol Bottari.
"I tried to explain to her that I was exempt from local ordinances, but she said, 'We'll see you in court,'" Gately told the Landmark. "I yelled back, 'It'll be in federal court.'"
Assistant Village Manager Keith Sbiral, who oversees the Department of Building and Planning, says that the maintenance violation ticket was written in error and that he has reached out to Gately to discuss the matter.
Gately has lived in his house with his wife, Ann (also a ham radio operator), for 12 years. The antennas have been up for almost that long and no new antennas have been added in at least five years, Gately said.
Other than a problem many years ago with a neighbor who complained that Gately's hobby was interfering with her TV reception, he says he's received no other complaints.
Sbiral still hadn't spoken with Gately as of this morning. But Gately has taken his case to the local press and to the TV station where he works part-time as a receptionist. On Tuesday, Sbiral had a TV reporter calling and the subsequent news story on TV has led to an outcry against Gately's antennas from some of his neighbors.
"The problem is now I've got a neighborhood full of people who are upset and want some action," Sbiral said.
And, according to Sbiral, the village is not going to take any action, because Gately is right - Federal Communications Commission laws prohibit municipalities from, according to a 1985 statute, putting into practice regulations that are "so restrictive that they preclude effective amateur communications."
This isn't to say that Brookfield couldn't set up zoning guidelines to reasonably regulate antennas for the purposes of health and safety. It's just that the village has no laws on the books regulating such antennas at all.
"He's got the right to have these antennas, and there's not a lot the village can do or would want to do about it," Sbiral said.
Why was the violation notice issued then?
Simply put, Sbiral said, it was a mistake.
"We try to make sure we don't ever make mistakes," Sbiral said. "It's probably not a good idea to use 'ASAP' as a timeframe, but I don't expect inspectors to know every FCC regulation under the sun."
Sbiral said that as soon as he saw the ticket come across his desk, "I said, I don't think we have jurisdiction on that.
"I hope the resident understands that mistakes happen and that's what it is," Sbiral said. "He's not going to have any repercussions from the village on this."
As for where the complaint originated, Sbiral said it was an anonymous complaint from a neighbor made shortly before the inspector handed Gately the ticket. Gately surmised that a homeowner trying to sell a nearby home might have called in the complaint. But the real estate agent who has the listing, Jane Harps, said that wasn't the case.
"It certainly wasn't me," said Harps.
Sbiral said that the village will likely look at drafting some kind of zoning laws to regulate the placement of antennas on properties. At least two of the antennas on Gately's are very close to the side lot line.
"I think there's a way to have some reasonable code that complies with the rules of the FCC relative to the height and the number of antennas," Sbiral said. "Most likely, anyone who has them already would probably be grandfathered in or there would be a sunset clause. It would probably behoove the village to update that a little bit.
"I don't think it's the huge issue it was blown up to be."
