In the wake of last month's decision by the Sawtooth National Forest to deny a permit for a cell tower on Galena Summit, Ketchum-based Idaho Tower Co. has dropped its plans for a tower there.
"Idaho Tower Co. will not appeal the Forest Service's [decision], and therefore will no longer pursue a communication site at Galena Summit," Idaho Tower Co. spokeswoman Jen Campbell stated in a press release.
In early September, Sawtooth National Forest Supervisor Jane Kollmeyer denied a special use permit for the cell tower on the grounds that a wireless telecommunication facility would have a negative visual impact and would not necessarily provide safety benefits.
Kollmeyer had previously denied the tower in July 2008, citing "substantial impairment" that the proposed 90-foot facility would have had on the scenic ridgetop. However, that decision was appealed and reversed by Deputy Regional Forester Cathy Beaty on the grounds that there hadn't been adequate opportunity for public comment.
"While the SNRA's Forest Plan and the Forest Service regulations allow for the permitting of the Galena tower, present permitting authorities do not want the tower," Campbell stated. "It is difficult to understand the rationale of deciding authorities, when transmission poles and ski lifts qualify under the same visual standards that the proposed tree design is being denied under."
The company's permit application was supported by local emergency service departments, the Idaho Bureau of Homeland Security and even Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter, who wrote Kollmeyer in 2008 to ask her to reverse her initial decision.
However, Kollmeyer wrote in her decision that while a tower could decrease response times for emergency service personnel, the proposed cell phone coverage would be limited to portions of state Highway 75 and wouldn't be as beneficial as some members of the public believed.
Jon Duval: jduval@mtexpress.com
