With only minor &uot;clarifications,&uot; the Natchez Board of Aldermen adopted amendments to the city’s tower ordinance Tuesday, ending a four-month moratorium but prompting more debate.

The new ordinance contains four changes from the most recent draft of the ordinance approved by the Natchez Metro Planning Commission last month.

One of the most dramatic changes removes land zoned as B-2, general business districts, from the list of areas where towers are permitted by right. Now, applications for towers anywhere other than industrial districts will have to go before the planning commission.

Other changes include repair of towers without approval from the planning department in the event of an emergency, authorization of the planning department to assess additional fees if the cost of investigating the application exceeds the initial fee and allows the city to review performance bonds for towers at its discretion.

Mayor F.L. &uot;Hank&uot; Smith called the newest changes &uot;clarifications&uot; rather than amendments, and City Attorney Walter Brown said the planning commission’s final approval was not necessary.

Brown also recommended the board bypass the usual 30-day public review period for changes to an ordinance and enact the ordinance effective immediately due to the long moratorium.

The debate over the city’s original tower ordinance began last summer with a request by Vanguard Towers, LLC, for a 250-foot tower on Jeff Davis Boulevard on property adjacent to that of local businessmen Jack Stephens and Hal Hicks.

Stephens said Tuesday he and Hicks appreciate the work that has been done and the new ordinance is an improvement over the original, but he is disappointed that several of his concerns were not addressed in the amendments.

&uot;We feel like you still have a very ambiguous ordinance that’s difficult to understand,&uot; Hicks said.

For example, Hicks said the title of the ordinance also includes antenna towers and satellite dishes, but the phrasing only deals with telecommunication towers.

Ward 5 Alderman David Massey said no ordinance is etched in stone and the board is open to suggestions on how to further improve the ordinance.

&uot;There’s no ordinance in the City of Natchez that can’t be improved and can’t be amended,&uot; he said.