Cell Phone Tower Hearing, Vote Set for Tonight

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.