The Bellevue City Council approved last week construction of a 100-foot cellular communications tower on city property. In addition to providing increased private cell phone coverage in many parts of the city, the tower should enhance communications for emergency responders and city services personnel. Construction will begin this spring.
"We hope to get pretty good improvement in cell coverage and public safety transmissions in Bellevue when it is built," said Bellevue City Administrator Tom Blanchard. "Bellevue's E-911 emergency dispatch services and the city's water and sewer telemetry systems will be attached to the tower free of charge."
Blanchard said Wood River Valley-based Idaho Tower Co. will also pay $12,000 each year into city coffers for rental of the site, which is located on 500 square feet of city property northeast of the U.S. Bank in Bellevue, approximately 170 feet east of Main Street.
The signing of a 30-year lease agreement with Idaho Tower Co. last week and the final reading of ordinance changes to accommodate tower construction marked the final stage of a three-year effort by Idaho Tower Co. to build the tower.
Despite the Bellevue P&Z's negative reaction in May to the cell tower proposal, the City Council eventually approved a height variance for the tower, based primarily on spotty cell phone coverage in the city that could lead to safety issues for emergency services personnel, such as firefighters and police officers.
At a city meeting in May, Idaho Tower Co. representative Jennifer Campbell said Edge Wireless would be the "anchor tenant" of the tower, though she expected other active carriers, such as Verizon and Alltel, to simultaneously use it in the future.
