Small Aircraft; Low Wing; 1 Eng; Retractable Gear
Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 2
ATC Issue All Types; Conflict Ground Conflict; Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance; Ground Incursion Runway
Airport; Company Policy; Human Factors; Environment - Non Weather Related
I was just assuming the position of Ground Control when the event occurred. Local Control had training in progress. I was making myself aware of their traffic as well as my own. They had two in the pattern and were about to get their third in; a TEMCO GC-1B Swift; who was instructed to hold short of the runway when taxied out by the previous controller. I was told about him and [I] was scanning to observe his location. From the low vantage point of our tower; small aircraft are hard to observe around the taxiways. At first pass of my scan; I didn't see him; even when I looked beyond the hold short bars. I started scanning the rest of the taxiway and the General Aviation ramp to see if I had misheard where he was.I taxied the first arrival that I talked [with] to the ramp and looked through the binoculars to see if I could see him better. With the binoculars; I was finally able to see that he had passed the hold short bars; blending in with a billboard in the background as well as with the snow. A second aircraft was flaring out to land. I told the Local Controller and trainee that the TEMCO GC-1B Swift had crossed the hold short lines; and they made a safety decision to allow the C182 to continue to land as they were in a critical phase of flight. The BRASHER warning was given to the TEMCO GC-1B Swift. The crossing of the hold short bars; while a violation of the rule; in this scenario did not place any of the aircraft in an unsafe proximity. The hold short bar for the runway is around 500 feet away from the runway because the airport placed it really far back to 'train' pilots to hold short of what will be a new runway that is under construction. The TEMCO GC-1B Swift held where a hold short bar would normally be placed. The hold short bar is in a terrible place and [it] has caused multiple incidents of pilots crossing. The airport authority; mistakenly; thought that the hold short bars should be placed short off the new runway under construction; instead of where a hold short bar would normally be for an active runway. It has confused a lot of pilots and increased workload and the likelihood that an aircraft will pass the hold short bars since it is so far away from the active runway. The hold short bars must be moved up to the normal location of hold short bars.Also; the Tower is way too low to the ground to have a safe viewing of all movement areas. The hold short bars are not observable from the tower. Your perspective is more to looking at the side of aircraft instead of above; and the low vantage point causes small aircraft to blend in with the hills and trees. The TEMCO GC-1B Swift was completely blended in with the snow; billboard; and trees; and I couldn't even see him until I used binoculars. A higher tower needs to be built to alleviate the unsafe viewing angles for tower controllers.
ATC Tower Ground Controller reported an aircraft passed the hold short lines as an arriving aircraft was on short final. The Controller added the tower is not high enough to effectively view the taxiways and ramp areas.