Cell phone towers disguised as trees are proposed for two new locations in Southport
From the News-Ledger Jan. 5, 2011
LEFT: An existing pine-style cell phone tower in Anaheim, California, which an applicant says is similar to the one proposed for the 3200-block of Jefferson Boulevard in West Sacramento. The site is across the street and about a block south of Tower Mart on private land.
By Steve Marschke News-Ledger Editor
West Sacramento residents will have a chance
to say what they think about plans for a couple of “fake tree” style cell phone
towers in Southport. Private parties have asked the city for permission to
erect a pine-style tower on the 3200-block of Jefferson Blvd. (almost across
the street from Tower Mart) and a eucalyptus-style tower at the corner of
Southport Parkway and Marshall Road.
The only other tree-style cell phone tower
currently in town is a pine-style cell phone tower near Linden Road and South
River Road, said David Tilley, senior planner for the City of West Sacramento.
“That probably isn’t ‘state of the art’
anymore,” said Tilley. “It wasn’t maintained well for a while, although it
looks better now.”
A contractor working with AT&T has asked
the city to lease a 30-foot by 40-foot city-owned space at the southeast corner
of Southport Parkway and Marshall Road, near Bridgeway Lakes, for one of the
proposed towers. They propose a “mono-eucalyptus” tree 60 feet high, with
antennas up to 50 feet above ground level. The leased property is a small part
of a much larger city parcel.
RIGHT: A photo-simulation of a proposed eucalyptus-style cell phone tower at the southeast corner of Southport Parkway and Marshall Road, showing nearby homes at the left. This rendering was provided to city planners by a contractor for AT&T Mobility, LLC.
The lease is still being negotiated, said
Tilley, and the proposal would need a conditional use permit from the city
planning commission. Cell phone providers often make arrangements to host
antennas for other providers on their towers, said Tilley, so the AT&T
tower could eventually include antennas from other cell phone service
providers.
The other proposal is for a “mono-pine” on
the east side of the 3200-block of Jefferson, near Tower Mart. That proposal
comes from Cortel, LLC, on behalf of Vista Towers, LLC, which creates cell
phone antenna towers for cell phone service providers.
“This land is privately owned,” said Tilley,
who added that his department will be soliciting community feedback about both
proposals.
“They’re going to be highly visible,” he
said. “The question is, is the ‘tree’ concept really appropriate at either
location. It will be much higher than anything else out there – it’s not like
there will be other trees around it.”
No public meetings are yet scheduled for
either cell phone tower proposal.
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