New Cell Tower Turns Heads in Elmwood Township

A new communications tower in Elmwood Township is turning heads, though its installation appears to be far less contentious than those proposed elsewhere in the county.

Crews were working Thursday to install equipment atop a 180-foot tower on township property across M-22 from Greilickville Harbor Park. They've worked over the past several weeks to install the monopole-style tower, which stands on its own without any guy wires.

“It’s designed to collapse directly down on itself in the event that something were to happen; they don’t fall over,” Elmwood Township Supervisor Jeff Shaw tells The Ticker. “So that makes it safer and gives it a much smaller footprint.”

Shaw says the tower is being built by Verizon, which approached the township more than a year ago.

“The first thing we did was checked around and discovered that there was a big gap in Verizon’s coverage here,” he says. “And (the proposed location) was an underutilized spot…and it seemed like a really good place to do it. So we had several meetings that we talked about it and negotiated a lease with them.”

The township will get $1,800 a month for the tower lease, Shaw says, with a 2 percent increase each year.

“It’s great that we're going to make a little money on it,” Shaw says. “That always helps our taxpayers when we make money on other things.”

Though Verizon is building the tower to improve its own service, it’s possible that other carriers use it in the future.  

"There's so many other carriers and sub-carriers and whatever they call them now, so it wouldn't be surprising at all to see somebody else locate on there,” Shaw says.

The tower was discussed at several township board meetings with no one showing up to complain, Shaw says.

“Nobody came out against it in any way," he says. "And quite honestly, I've talked to several people who have Verizon and they're excited about the fact they're actually going to have coverage down here."

Kevin Gauthier owns Korner Gem, a jewelry store close to the tower. He and a residential neighbor who lives close to the tower (but declined to speak on the record) told The Ticker they’re upset the township wasn’t more proactive about letting people know about the tower plans back when they could have voiced concerns.

“My only comment is I felt uninformed,” Gauthier says. “I asked Jeff (Shaw) about it, and he said ‘Well, nobody showed up at the meetings,’ but that’s not the end all be all.”

Gauthier wishes the township would have sent out a flyer with an image of the proposed tower superimposed on the landscape. Had more people understood what was at stake, he says, they might have gotten involved.

“Send that out to people and say ‘Hey, this is what we’re discussing; this is what the corridor will look like,” Gauthier says.

Shaw says the township is “incredibly open and transparent” and reiterated that the tower was discussed at multiple township meetings.

“The tower company brought in images of what it was going to look like and those were part of a board packet,” he says. “And the agenda (and packet are) online well before every meeting.”

Proactively notifying people about issues that may be contentious is impractical, Shaw says.

“We love to have people come to the meetings and tell us what they think, but there’s a lot going on in the township, and we can’t notify everybody of everything,” Shaw says. “We try to do our best.”

Cassiopeia Easterday, owner of Salon Coiffure, which also sits near the tower, would have preferred the tower be disguised as a tree so it’s less unsightly. But she’s not overly bothered by it, and she agrees that the area can use better mobile coverage.

“This is definitely one of those spots that needs some cell service,” she tells The Ticker.