For the week of May 14 - 20, 2003

Community speaks
up for tower on
Della Mountain

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By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer

Blaine County citizens said very clearly at a public hearing last week they want improved cellular telephone coverage and that the summit of Della Mountain west of Hailey—an existing cell tower site—is an appropriate location for a new, 70-foot-tall wireless communications tower.

However, it is still unclear whether the Blaine County Planning and Zoning Commission can approve the lighted tower and still be within the parameters of the county’s wireless communications facility ordinance. It specifically states that lights may not be installed on new towers in Blaine County.

Following an hour-long presentation by tower proponents, including the applicant, Idaho Tower Co., cellular telephone companies and the Idaho Department of Lands, which owns the property in question, roughly 15 citizens advocated the construction of the tower.

However, the P&Z took no action and continued the public hearing to June 5 at 6:30 p.m. at the Old County Courthouse in Hailey.

Because the new tower would be the highest on Della Mountain, the Federal Aviation Administration and Idaho Department of Aeronautics have asked for a light on an existing 70-foot tower to be moved to the proposed new tower to mitigate the hazard that the towers pose to planes flying to and from the nearby Friedman Memorial Airport.

Idaho Tower Co. co-owner Jennifer Campbell called the light issue "the one gray area" of the county’s ordinance but added that she believes the commission has the authority to approve the proposal. Moving a light is different than installing a new light, she said.

But County Zoning Administrator Deborah Vignes said the issue may not be so gray.

"I believe the proposals by Idaho Tower may be worthwhile, but I don’t think the ordinance gives the commission the flexibility to consider them," Vignes said.

What’s more, the existing light might be required to be moved whether a new tower is built or not, said Tracy Lee, Idaho Tower Co. site leasing manager. Two small existing facilities are higher in elevation than the existing 70-foot lighted tower, Lee said.

"If you take the spirit and intent of the ordinance, our proposal meets the intent," Lee said.

Blaine County resident Jim Desnoyers, who worked on a committee that helped draft the county’s wireless communications ordinance, made the only remarks advocating denial of Idaho Tower Co.’s proposal.

All the necessary county and city ordinances are in place and are working, Desnoyers said, pointing out that the cellular telephone carriers have been building discreet facilities on the valley floor and continue to expand their services.

But Len Harlig, chairman of the Wood River-Sawtooth EMS Association, said any improvement in cell phone coverage could save a life by making E911 available in more locations.

Harlig said 50 percent of all 911 calls come from cell phones and called the situation in the Wood River Valley a "serious problem."

"When we were thinking about these towers in the beginning, we did not understand the need to provide for this E911 technology," Harlig said.

The facility would be built on state-owned land, and the proposed tower would be 41 feet higher than the existing tallest tower, because of differences in the towers’ base elevations. The proposed tower would extend approximately 60 feet higher than the top of the mountain.

To build an associated two-story equipment storage building, a 120-foot-long, 9,000-square-foot road would be graded from an existing mountain-top parking area to the proposed tower site.

Cellular telephone companies Nextel Partners, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobil USA propose to locate a total of 14 antennas of various sizes and four microwave dishes on the proposed tower. The tower and equipment storage building would be designed to accommodate at least three additional carriers in the future.

Additionally, Blaine County’s wireless communication facilities ordinance requires "less visually obtrusive alternative proposals" that are in conformance with the county’s ordinance. Of the five alternatives provided, two meet the ordinance.

Of those two, one would locate facilities on the valley floor, and one proposes building the two-story storage building near the existing mountain-top parking area.

The P&Z unanimously approved a separate Idaho Tower Co. wireless communications facility proposal for Picabo Mountain, west of Carey. Edge Wireless will replace four of the 10 existing antennas on an existing tower with larger antennas that will extend service west of Fairfield.

Blaine County’s wireless ordinance requires that existing equipment, at the time of upgrades, must be replaced with equipment of "equal or greater technical capacity and reduced in size so as to minimize visual impact."

The P&Z found that, because the upgrade will eliminate the need for more tower sites, visual impacts would be reduced despite the increase in size associated with the upgrade.

 

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