Wireless companies put up more ‘stealth’ towers

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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — One might be hidden in a cross on
a church lawn. Others are disguised as a cactus in the desert, a silo
in farm country or a palm tree reaching into a sunny sky.
Whatever
the deception, the goal is the same: concealing the tall, slender
cellphone towers that most Americans need but few want to see erected in
their neighborhoods.
As telecommunications companies fill gaps in
their networks, many have sought to camouflage the ungainly outdoor
equipment that carries the nation’s daily supply of calls, texts and
data. It’s another indication of how the industry is evolving to meet
the demands of consumers who insist on ever-increasing amounts of
wireless information but won’t tolerate large antennas looming over
their homes, parks and other beloved sites.
"Each community and
each neighborhood can be different, so we really have to work on a
case-by-case basis with each city and with each zoning authority," said
Karen Smith, a spokeswoman for Verizon.
So-called stealth
cellphone towers have been around for more than two decades and appear
to be growing in popularity. They have been concealed in a wide variety
of ways, including in a stop sign in New Orleans, a pine tree in
Kinnelon, New Jersey, and a water tower in San Dimas, California.
Now
an Iowa church wants to join the club by building a tower in the shape
of a cross. It’s a move that’s irked some nearby residents who think the
design will be too big and too out of place. It also shows how
sensitive the issue can still be.
The First Presbyterian Church in
Des Moines is working with Verizon to construct a tower that will be
dressed up as an 11-story cross. The deal, which is being reviewed by a
city zoning board, includes annual compensation to the church.
"Like
a lot of churches, we have to keep each year finding ways to pay our
bills," the Rev. Ken Stuber said. "It’s an unusual church that doesn’t
have to worry about something like that."
Suzette Jensen said the
tower’s height and color wouldn’t match the church’s exterior, making it
an instant eyesore. The pastor said that would not happen.
"We
pay some pretty high property taxes. We feel very strongly that it’s
going to be a detriment to the value of our homes," she said, adding
that neighbors are considering legal action.
Scenic America, a
nonprofit that works to preserve scenery along the nation’s roads, has
generally opposed the building of more communication towers, but the
group has been more amenable to disguised designs.
"We’ve been in
favor of disguising them if you can and you can do it well," said
spokesman Max Ashburn. But even some of the disguised towers are dead
giveaways.
"You can tell right away that they’re not what they
pretend to be," Ashburn said. "Sometimes the attempt to cover them up
actually makes it stand out more than if they just put up the tower."
When
Verizon first contacted the church last year, the company proposed
standard designs for the tower. The church ultimately pushed for the
cross-shaped design, which mirrors a tower outside a church in the
Minneapolis suburb of Eden Prairie.
STEALTH Concealment Solutions
Inc., a South Carolina-based company that offers hidden antennas and
towers, has created dozens of multi-tasking steeples and crosses over
the years.
In 1992, a BP sign at a gas station in Atlanta earned
the distinction of being the first stealth cellphone tower in the
country, according to the company. Designs have expanded over the years
and now include a quirky pole in Liberty, Michigan, that looks like a
pencil.
Cindy Wishart, a STEALTH spokeswoman, said the company is constantly educating people about the industry
and its possibilities.
"They always associate concealment as a tree," she said. "It’s just so much more than
that."
Specific
data on the number of stealth towers is limited, but STEALTH said it
works on up to 800 projects a year. The Wireless Association, an
industry trade group also known at CTIA, said the presence of towers in
general around the country has dramatically increased over the years in
an effort to expand coverage.
At the end of 1997, the country had
just over 50,000 cell towers. By the end of 2012, the most recent year
for which information is available, that number had jumped to more than
300,000.
Stuber said he was surprised by the community backlash.
"It’s
ridiculous," he said. "Churches put up crosses all the time that are
simply crosses. This will be a cross that’s also helping us to pay our
bills."
Jensen said the tower should be put in another location
because space outside the church is too small. In Des Moines, a minimum
10-acre lot is needed for a communication tower. The church has just
over three acres.
Smith, of Verizon, would not go into detail
about the tower, although she did say the company chooses locations that
fit within a geographic radius and meet engineering specifications.
People
constantly need more data "to do all the different multimedia
applications that are now part of their lives," Smith said, creating
continual pressure to "add more capacity to our network to stay ahead of
that demand."

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