Heber City officials will discuss a new site for a 65-foot-tall cell tower on Tuesday after nearly 40 community members expressed their disapproval about the proposed location during a Heber City Planning Commission meeting on May 12.
The original site was located on East Center Street near the Wasatch County Health Department. It would have needed to be rezoned to permit the height of the cell tower, which will accommodate up to three telecommunications carriers, and ultimately result in fewer cell towers throughout the city, explained Helmundt Strumpher, chief operating officer at Atlas Tower Group.
Neighbors expressed a variety of concerns, the foremost being a potential decline in their property values if such a tall cell tower were erected near their homes. Representatives from Atlas Tower Group insisted such impacts would not occur.
A potential solution arose when several public commenters pointed to the agenda materials, which stated the Heber City Cemetery had not been considered as a potential site solely “out of reverence for the deceased.”
A slew of comments and off-color jokes by residents, public officials and representatives from Atlas Tower Group made it clear that placing the cell tower in the cemetery may be the best location, as it would provide a larger buffer between the tower and surrounding residences.
During the Planning Commission meeting, Community Development Director Tony Kohler confirmed that Atlas Tower Group is now dead set on placing the cell tower in the cemetery. It would likely be a cell tower tree rather than a monopole, he said.
Atlas Tower Group has been looking for an appropriate location for this cell tower for nearly two years. It has attempted nearly 50 sites, 12 of them on city-owned property.
One of those 12 was the city cemetery. While Atlas Tower Group may view it as the perfect site, planning commissioners agreed that it would still garner backlash.
“Someone’s already reached out to me and is very vocal about things about the cemetery,” Planning Commissioner Joshua Knight said.
Kohler suggested the cemetery may be the final option.
“If the cemetery site doesn’t work, we probably ought to cut off our relationship with Atlas and say, ‘Thanks, but no thanks,’” he said.
The deliberation over this specific cell tower has bloomed into a larger discussion about developing a master plan to determine where future cell towers should be placed. This master plan would hopefully prevent drawn-out negotiations like the one currently occurring with Atlas Tower Group.
Resident Eve Christensen, a structural engineer who designed cell phone towers for six months, suggested taking a creative approach to adding the infrastructure.
“There are an infinite variety of ways to put cell phone hardware on things. … Obviously, you see ones that look like trees. There are flag poles that are fatter than normal, church steeples. Everywhere, we’re plastering things,” she said. “Let’s expand the creativity in what’s possible, maintaining the character of our neighborhoods, but also, … I do think the future is here. The future is coming. We need to plan for it.”
The Planning Commission unanimously voted against rezoning the original site on East Center Street and suggested the City Council explore alternative sites. The Planning Commission did not recommend the cemetery specifically, but that is the site the City Council will discuss on Tuesday. There will be opportunities for public comment.
The Planning Commission also requested that city staff explore the possibility of making cell towers a conditional use across all zones, meaning each cell tower would require approval, instead of being automatically permitted.