In August 2022, Trileaf Corporation (Trileaf) performed a cultural resource inventory survey for a proposed self-support lattice telecommunications tower located in Toccoa, Stephens County, Georgia (Latitude: 34° 35’ 56.16” Longitude: 83° 21’ 49.566”). The proposed project is located within a cleared area amongst wooded land.
Verizon Wireless proposes to construct a 255-foot (77.7-meter) self-support telecommunications tower with an overall height of 265 feet (80.8 meters) and associated equipment in a 60 x 60-foot (18.3 x 18.3-meter) fenced compound within a 80-foot by 80-foot (24.4 x 24.4-meter, 6,400-square-foot) lease area. The project includes an access/utility easement, measuring 30 feet wide (9.1 meters wide), containing a 12-foot (3.7- meter) gravel drive, extending approximately 0.71 miles (1142.6 meters) generally southwest, then turning northwest away from the lease area towards Bend N Hickory Road. The proposed access/utility easement and proposed tower compound lease area are located within a cleared area amongst wooded land. Total acreage of the new construction area is approximately 0.43 acres (0.17 hectare).
Trileaf Senior Project Archaeologist, Danielle Young, M.A., RPA, under the direction of Trileaf, performed this survey in response to the planned use of the above-described parcel and the potential impacts that such use might present to archaeological and architectural cultural resources. The Phase I cultural resource survey was designed to discover all precontact and historical period cultural resources that might be present within the project area.
The field survey of the project area, which included a pedestrian survey, shovel testing, and visual inspection, yielded no evidence for the presence of archaeological or architectural properties within the Direct APE for the current project. Additionally, based on a map and survey form search using the resources of the Georgia State Historic Preservation Office GNAHRGIS GIS Platform, inspections of the Georgia Archaeological Site Files (GASF 2022), as well as resources of the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) conducted on August 2, 2022, by Danielle Young, M.A., RPA, Senior Project Archaeologist at Trileaf Corporation, three (3) NRHP-eligible resources (260548, 57978, and 57977) were identified within the ¾-mile Visual APE. A review of archaeological sites and surveys, conducted by the GASF on August 3, 2022, identified four (4) sites (9ST206, 9ST335, 9ST315, 9ST361) and five (4) archaeological surveys (1160, 7538, 9095, 10333, 11072) within a 1-mile radius of the project location.
Based on these findings, Trileaf recommends No Historic Properties within the Direct APE and No Adverse Effect to Historic Properties within the ¾-mile Visual APE. It is therefore recommended that project clearance be granted with no further investigation or evaluation of the project area relative to those resources.
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