Council debates cell tower regs

On a 4-1 vote with Councilman Bernie Gessner voting nay, council approved the first reading of Ordinance 917-20 adopting Wireless Telecommunication Facilities Regulations at the Feb. 24 council meeting. Community Development Director Lupe Diosdado told council the proposed ordinance was the result of two Planning and Zoning (P&Z) workshops prompted by a 2019 request to construct a cell tower in the Heritage Meadows subdivision.

Building on regulations in neighboring cities, P&Z added landscaping and setback requirements as well as documented proof in the application that no space is available for their customers on an existing tower.

Diosdado said, “When someone submits an application for a cell tower, we want to see some proof that they did their due diligence to see if other cell tower space is available and that they tried to collocate on another tower.”

Gessner disagreed with requiring proof of collocation saying, “This smacks of restraint of trade. The towers are built by one company and the lessors are a different company and we’re making them decide who can go on what tower. Would we apply this condition to anything else? A new gas station coming in, or a coffee shop? We’re sitting here somehow imposing this restriction that they have to survey the competition and guarantee the competition can’t support this type of thing so they can get permission to compete. I have a big problem with whether we‘re getting into deciding who can compete and who can’t compete in this particular business.”

While Councilman Geoff Horn agreed it was a valid argument, he said, “We don’t need two towers when one will do.”

Before voting, typographical errors were corrected and verbiage amended to clarify that Sec. 3.08.004 (a) “safety” did not refer to alleged health concerns but rather resident safety in the event of a tower collapse.