A new cell tower could mean less dropped calls for some Bartlett residents — but could be a permanent eyesore to residents living near the 140-foot structure.
U.S. Cellular is proposing a cellular tower for a horse farm in the 600 block of South Bartlett Road in the downtown area, just across the street from 21 children and 14 adults living in Amherst Meadow subdivision. It is about 250 feet from Jeff Vosberg’s home.
“The most offensive part is it’s 140 feet — that’s the size of the Ferris Wheel at Navy Pier,” he said. “This thing is massive.”
If the project is approved, Vosberg could view the tower from his front window. The structure would be shaped like a flag pole, which U.S. Cellular representatives contend would make it blend into the neighborhood.
“It’s like putting lipstick on a pig,” Vosberg said. “There’s no way its going to blend.”
Vosberg has created signs that read “No Massive Cell Tower” that line his neighborhood and collected 418 signatures for an online petition.
The village hosted a public hearing at the June Plan Commission meeting, during which the phone company’s desire to build the tower was discussed. An additional tower would provide more coverage to customers experiencing a gap in their system, according to the project manager for U.S. Cellular, Rich Lazarski.
“As we move forward, we need to look at how many people are using cell phones inside buildings,” he said. “More and more people have discontinued their home phone.”
U.S. Cellular said there are four cell towers near Bartlett and they are unable to pick up a small pocket of the village. Once providing a sufficient signal for customers walking or driving, the company receives complaints from the growing number of residents using cell phones inside their homes.
Researching which areas could serve a cell tower, U.S. Cellular looked at eight other options — after ruling out the water tower because of too many antennas and after being denied by the Park District to build on soccer fields — before finally settling on the horse farm. This does not sit well with neighbors.
“The fact is this is not their best choice — it is their ninth best choice,” Vosberg said.
At this price, Vosberg said the village should be doing more to explore other options.
The village is looking into alternative solutions, such as placing an antenna on top of an existing structure. This week Verizon Wireless floated a less controversial proposal, to place an antenna on top of power lines in the industrial area of Brewster Creek Business Park.
There are power lines near the horse farm to provide for U.S. Cellular’s gap, but they are shorter and made of different material than the power lines in Brewster Creek.
The company has said it would consider multiple 70-foot towers in place of a 140-foot structure, but it would not be its first choice.
“It’s kind of like holding a flashlight over the top of a table,” Lazarski said. “The taller the tower, the more wide the coverage would be.”
Chances are the smaller towers would be closer to the residential area also, he said.
According to the village’s community development director, Jim Plonczynski, the village is limited because it does not have the technology to determine whether a coverage gap exists.
“It’s the village’s responsibility to took at this location and weigh the benefits to those who would have better service against those people opposed to it that live near the site,” he said. “It’s a tough decision.”
The village hired a consultant, Stu Chapman of Municipal Services Associates, who has confirmed U.S. Cellular’s gap coverage claims.
“There is limited bandwidth right now,” he said. “With more people using video technology, towers are really strained.”
A public hearing was originally scheduled for August, but was pushed back to October after U.S. Cellular requested more time. The meeting was supposed to take place Thursday but was pushed back to December because the company is waiting on a replica of the cell tower, which would be placed at the site to give residents an idea of its appearance.
The replica tower will not be available until December.
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Cell tower debate gains momentum
Source: Bartlett Press
Date: 10/11/2007
