COTTAGE GROVE – About a month after community concerns were raised about a potential 100-foot cell tower, the Cottage Grove Planning Commission gave its approval for the project.
On July 15, the committee continued the public hearing on an application submitted on April 21 by Smartlink LLC. According to a 168-page staff report released by the city on May 22, the application is to construct a wireless transmission facility (WTF) at 2070 S. R St.
At last month’s meeting, the committee heard concerns from neighbors in the area and business owners in the industrial lot that the tower would occupy. Among the concerns were radiation emissions, declining property values, and visual impacts.
“The new report that explains the health and safety and limitations of this tower and the radiation from this tower in great detail was included in the application with the materials that were handed out at the last hearing, and available on the website of the last hearing,” said Craig Brunkenhoefer, a representative of the applicant.
“The city planning staff conducted a comprehensive review and recommended approval, supported by detailed findings that the application satisfies all relevant criteria,” he said.
The testimony prepared for the evening focused solely on the stealth design and on whether the applicant could comply with the committee’s previous request to return with simulation examples of stealth options for the tower.
“Before we fully open up the public testimony, we do want to emphasize that the planning commission reopened and continued this hearing solely to allow the applicant to augment its application with a stealth technology option,” said Chair Brandon Parsons.
The WTF will occupy a 50-by-50-foot space located approximately 100 feet away from South R Street. The applicant proposes a 100-foot-tall tower with a 6-foot lightning rod at the top, in a neutral gray color.
According to Brunkenhoefer, the applicable code allows the facility to satisfy the visual impact requirements through stealth or neutral color treatment. The proposed neutral gray monopole was specifically reviewed and found compliant by city staff.
“Therefore, it is compliant with your current code as it is written, and to require additional requirements at this point because of a preference is unnecessary,” Brunkenhoefer said.
During the July 17 meeting, Leni Crow, the city’s senior planner, said the proposal meets visual and noise requirements and is sited where it has the least impact on residents.
Although public testimony was limited, Kevin Solonsky, a business owner, said he opposes the proposed cell tower.
“All businesses and residents oppose it and will continue to fight the proposal for years before the city council, before Lane County, and the court,” Solonsky said. “If the application is denied, however, there will be no harm. Verizon will just find a more suitable location for the cell tower in a more appropriate area, and this issue will hopefully be resolved.”
Commissioner Ryan Birdseye acknowledged that he had requested that a stealth option be presented.
“Having permitted many cell tower projects over the years, I was surprised at the rebuttal from the applicant,” Birdseye said. “But that’s neither here nor there at this time. What I want to focus on this evening is our development code as it relates to visual impacts and intertwines with this notion of stealth.”
He pointed out that the proposed tower will be located in an open area within the Cottage Grove Industrial Park, visible to residents to the north along Sweet Lane, as well as those driving along Sweet Lane and along Highway 99.
“I asked the applicant to provide visual simulations showing a stealth option, and as I understand, they refused to do so,” Birdseye said.
Despite the applicant’s refusal to provide visual simulations of a stealth option, the commissioners voted to approve the application with the condition that the tower be constructed with stealth technology and in a neutral gray color. The motion passed with a majority vote.
The proposal will be recommended to the city council at a future meeting.
