Cell phone users passing through Bellevue could soon forgo the frustration of losing calls due to "dead zones" that exist throughout the city.
At their meeting on Thursday, July 26, Bellevue City Council members granted a height variance to the Ketchum-based Idaho Tower Co., allowing construction of a 100-foot cell phone tower. City ordinance allows a maximum height of 40 feet for cell towers.
This decision came two months after the Planning and Zoning Commission denied the variance request on the grounds that it would negatively affect the scenic vistas, aesthetic values, and small-town character that Bellevue strives to maintain.
However, the council's concern centered on the fact that spotty cell phone coverage could lead to safety issues as emergency services personnel, such as firefighters and police officers, cannot currently depend on their cell phones for communication.
Idaho Tower Co. representative Jen Campbell told the council that at the proposed location, northeast of the U.S. Bank branch in Bellevue and approximately 170 feet east of Main Street, would allow for in-building coverage throughout the city, as well as reception in Muldoon and Slaughterhouse canyons. In order to achieve these goals, Campbell said her company would need at least a 70-foot tower, although a 100-foot tower would be preferential in order to provide space for up to four different carriers.
Campbell said along with increased safety, other benefits include wireless technology and infrastructure for residents and businesses, which could include Internet, and a source of revenue as the land would be leased, and each carrier would pay a negotiated amount for that space.
While this amount would depend on the type of tower erected—more income for a "monopole" and less for an expensive "monopine" (a monopole designed to look like a large pine tree)—Idaho Tower Co. President John Campbell said the project could potentially bring the city around $15,000 per year. This is approximately how much the state charges when leasing its land for the same purpose.
Jen Campbell said Edge Wireless would be the "anchor tenant" of the tower, although she expected other active carriers, such as Verizon and Alltel, to simultaneously use it in the future.
Members of both the council and public vocally expressed unanimous support for the request.
"You have to remember the history of the ordinance," Councilman Steve Fairbrother said, referring to the current allowable tower height. "It was created seven years ago by a group of people who hated cell phones and cell towers."
Included in the standing-room-only crowd were a number of law enforcement officers and Bellevue Fire Department Captain Trent Shoemaker, all of whom spoke of the danger they face when confronting potentially threatening situations in and around the city.
Shoemaker said that he was in charge of the recent multi-department urban interface drill that took place near the Sunrise Ranch and found that the inability to communicate was a very real liability.
When the tower will actually go up is uncertain. However, the project will now head to design review.
In other Bellevue news:
· The City Council authorized Mayor Jon Anderson to appoint Bellevue resident Betsy Castle to the Library Board.
· The council aims to put finishing touches on next year's fiscal budget at its meeting on Thursday, Aug. 9, as council members managed to bring the proposed budget to "pretty much even," City Clerk Dee Barton said. The city was able to add back $3,000 for both contracting a fire inspector and approximately the same amount for a part-time librarian. The council will hold a public hearing on Thursday, Aug. 23, to finalize the budget.
