Douglas County Board of Commissioners (BOC) Tuesday unanimously passed a resolution imposing a moratorium until Feb. 2 on zoning applications for new cell phone towers.

The action came at the regular 10 a.m. BOC meeting in Citizens Hall at the county courthouse.

“We need a code in place to cover telecommunications towers as cell phones become more popular every day,” said Commission Chairman Tom Worthan. “We have to have more towers to cover the county and place them where needed.”

County Attorney Ken Bernard said in a Monday BOC work session that the moratorium is necessary to prevent a rash of last minute filings to avoid the new rules. The county planning and zoning department is currently drafting changes to the Unified Development Code (UDC) which will include cell tower codes.

The BOC also approved unanimously, unless otherwise indicated, the following items:

• a beer and wine license for Sidna Enterprises, LLC, 9937 Highway 166, Winston; licensee: Dilawar Ismail Aganne, by a 4-1 margin , with District 4 Commissioner David Latham casting the sole dissenting vote;

• acceptance of a $20,000 donation from GreyStone Power Corporation to purchase special ballistic gear for county patrol deputies;

• acceptance of $1,500 donations for animal control;

• amendment of Fiscal Year 2010 Aging Services contract with Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) to increase it by $1,387, providing an additional 209 home delivered meals;

• memorandum of agreement with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to certify that Douglas County is using the DHS Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database, as required by Georgia law;

• acceptance of the VOCA (Victims of Crime Act) continuation funding grant of $33,906;

• adoption of the ARC’s Green Community program;

• adoption of the Douglas County Comprehensive Transportation Plan;

• and approval of two emergency purchase orders, for $193,391.91 and $77,905.95, needed for flood damage repairs to Mason Falls Drive and Yancey Road.