Planning and Zoning to Vote on Residential Cell Phone Tower on Wednesday

T-Mobile will be back in front of the Planning and Zoning Commission requesting permission to build a cell phone tower in a residential neighborhood. 

The proposed location of the 80-foot tower is near a water tower on the west side of Universal Drive, south of Willott Road. The location is an R-1 residential area and smack dab in the middle of a neighborhood. Representatives from T-Mobile said the tower would be similar to a utility pole. The proposed location, next to the water tower, is just another place for a utility, according to T-Mobile. The location was chosen, T-Mobile said, because it provided coverage to a residential area where coverage was lacking.

Members of the community came out to the and all in attendance opposed the tower. Some were concerned about aesthetics, others property value. Health issues were raised, as were issues with TV reception. One by one residents stepped up to the microphone to object to the tower.

The Commission agreed. Commission chairman Keith McNames proposed an alternate location—a location that the Commission had already approved. T-Mobile rejected the idea at first, but McNames was not satisfied with the reasoning for turning down the approved location near Spencer and Williott. He said that T-Mobile should strongly consider the no-hassle location as opposed to one that was obviously receiving some criticism. McNames motioned to have T-Mobile come back in September with more research and a better reason while the Spencer/Williott site wouldn’t work.  

T-Mobile agreed and will return with a modified proposal for the Sept. 7 meeting. On Wednesday, T-Mobile will get a chance to have it's case heard once more. The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the Justice Center.

Other items on the agenda include: 

• Seven requests for home occupation permits will be heard.
• The Commission will vote on a street name change. 
• Not including T-Mobile, the Commission will have four public hearings. Two relate to a truck center and one is another cell phone tower request. 

A full recap of the meeting will appear Thursday on St. Peters Patch.