The contact for the building permits:

Inyo County -
Department of Building and Safety
Mike Conklin or Willie Ralston (760) 878-0213    (I communicated with 
                                                  Willie Ralston)
168 North Edwards St.
Independence, CA 93526

If permit is required then one needs to do the following:

- fill out a building permit application
- letter addressing the scope of research
- description of the tower
Also:
-assessor's parcel numbers
-plot plan map: parcel map and location of the structure on the parcel 
drawn to scale

Note 1: Independence is in seismic zone 4 and also structures need to
be able to sustain winds up to 70 mph (31.1 m/s = 112 km/h = 62 knots)

Note 2: If permits will be required for the tall towers (hopefully
not), and if the towers will be within the area covered by the DRI
network, I might already have all the assessor's parcel numbers and
plan maps you will need.