Cell Phone Tower Hearing, Vote Set for Tonight
Proposed tower will be at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church
Photos
Plans for a cell phone tower at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church will get a public hearing before a vote at Thursday night's meeting of City Council at City Hall.
The public hearing will be at 8 p.m., before the start of the council meeting. A third reading of the ordinance on the tower is on the agenda the meeting, followed by a vote.
Westlake's Planning Commission approved the plans for the tower in December. The 100-foot tower would be built on the western end of the church property. It would be almost 300 feet away from the nearest residence.
The tower was propsed because of poor cell phone service in the southwestern part of town.
At a public meeting in October, Verizon attorney Bob Grant said other options were explored, such as parks, commercial properties and Westlake Porter Library. Either they could not accommodate a tall enough tower, he said, or were too far away to affect the entire area.
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Prince of Peace Lutheran Church
28455 Center Ridge Rd, Westlake, OH -
Westlake City Hall
27216 Hilliard Blvd, Westlake, OH -
Mick
9:41 am on Thursday, January 3, 2013
There is a petition to stop the approval of this cell tower. Any interested residents should please go to the link below and sign the petition.
https://www.change.org/petitions/the-city-of-westlake-ohio-city-council-and-mayor-clough-stop-ordinance-2012-122-cell-tower-permit-for-28579-center-ridge-rd
Connor
12:30 pm on Thursday, January 3, 2013
I guess you don't live in the area where this will help? I do and the signal is terrible and I have a lot of dropped calls. This really needs to pass.
Mick
1:40 pm on Thursday, January 3, 2013
On the contrary, Connor. I would be able to see the towering eyesore from my house if it gets built, so I assume I must be in the target area. I don't have a lot of dropped calls, however, so I find that a bit odd. Building a 100 foot tower in a residential area doesn't seem like an appropriate solution to me. It goes against the guidelines of general placement of this kind of structure, it's aesthetically unpleasant, and there's a potential issue with the increased RF radiation in a residential area (at least one worth looking into).
Chris M.
2:40 pm on Friday, January 4, 2013
If you want decent cell service in residential areas, you need to build a few towers in residential areas. It seems like it's just part of progress. I'm sure some people don't like to look at electric poles either but they're needed to serve residents.
Mick
4:29 pm on Friday, January 4, 2013
Again, I don't have a problem with my service, and I live right in the area that's affected.
And while this is apparently a problem for people, there have to be better solutions than this. There are other options, and Verizon really ought to be looking for find the best possible solution, not the easiest. They themselves even say they'd really rather put the tower someone else. At the hearing, it seemed pretty clear that other options exist that should be pursued.
Poles and towers and structures are needed to serve residents. But there are more and less obtrusive ways to accomplish the services.
Lastly, allowing Verizon to build on essentially residential land opens the precedent for AT&T to find another church, strike a deal for that private land and then present it to the city. If this tower is built, finding a reason to turn that one down without being discriminatory will be difficult.