>Cell Tower Decision Delayed until January 2011

>The Spalding County Zoning Board of Appeals will not be making a decision on the proposed cell tower in the Maddox and South Sixth Street area until January of 2011.

Lucian Tatum III, who works with Manley Spangler Smith Architects, P.C. and is the unofficial speaker for the opposition to the tower, spoke with T-Mobile representatives on Thursday, November 11. The cell tower was on the zoning board’s agenda for discussion at the meeting scheduled for that night, but Tatum and T-Mobile had a discussion that postponed the decision yet again.

Tatum said T-Mobile expressed their respect for the community’s concerns and their desire to find a solution that would not adversely impact the community.

“The alternatives discussed revolved around alternative designs and a lower height for the tower in the current proposed location and investigating alternative locations in nearby non-residential areas,” said Tatum.

A shorter tower could be designed as as a “stealth tower” or “mono-pine,” said Tatum. “In this case they said they could camouflage it as a tree and that they would provide visual simulations at the next meeting so they community could see what they are proposing. They also said they would include language making it explicit that the tower would not have a beacon light on it,” said Tatum.

Though T-Mobile insisted during the first meeting that they had researched all other possible areas to place this cell tower, Tatum found a point in the company’s radio frequency engineering report that opened the possibility for other site options. Tatum said he found that the radio frequency engineering reported stated, “In some cases, an increased antenna height is possible which can allow some greater flexibility in location placement.”

“Based on this statement I asked them if they had investigated the possibility of using a taller tower on a site that would not be in a residential area to provide the coverage they say they need. They said they had not but that they would do computer studies and generate “propagation maps” to see if this was a possibility,” said Tatum.

“After much discussion T-mobile stated that they would contact Mr. Chuck Taylor and request that their application be tabled until the next Zoning Appeals Meeting so that they could modify their application. The application was tabled and the item will come up in the next meeting. According to Mr. Chuck Taylor, Community Development Director, the next meeting will be January 13, 2011,” said Tatum.