Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Nextel Tower Power (Not)

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 10 Jan 2003 05:57:33 -0500

http://www.fremontneb.com/articles/2003/01/09/news/news3.txt

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Saunders Co. panel puts Nextel tower plan on hold

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Saunders Co. panel puts Nextel tower plan on hold

By Janet Nitsick/Tribune Staff

The Saunders County Planning Commission Monday tabled a request by Nextel, a cell-phone company, to construct a 370-foot tower a little more than two miles south of Fremont.

Neighbors, in a petition, had expressed their objections to building the tower to the Saunders County Board of Supervisors and the county's planning commission.

But the planning commission's tabling of the issue was done at the request of outgoing Saunders County Attorney Thomas Jaudzemis. Jaudzemis' last day was Wednesday and he made the request because Nextel filed a lawsuit Nov. 7 in U.S. District Court. Until that issue is resolved or dismissed, the matter will not be brought up again, said George Borreson, Saunders County zoning administrator.

Jaudzemis said the case is being handled by the county's insurance company.

Nextel first approached the planning commission in September and the commission recommended construction of a 400-foot tower near the Platte River bridge and U.S. Highway 77. That recommendation then was reviewed by the Saunders County Board of Supervisors, where members who live in the area expressed their objections, Borreson said.

In that incident, supervisors sent the matter back to the planning commission for their review, where the commission again recommended the tower's construction, he said.

The second application reduced the tower's size to 395 feet, said Kevin Puk, a technical manager for Nextel. Puk said the reduction was in response to residents' concerns.

And its size was reduced again to 370 feet in its third proposal before the matter was tabled at Monday's meeting, he said.

The company tried to add onto an existing tower in the Fremont area, Puk said, but that proposal had to be rejected because the additional antennas would overload the system, causing a safety hazard.

"We do not like doing this (building the tower)," he said, but there was no alternative.

Puk said he does not know what will happen to the court case because it is in the hands of the company's attorney. A similar case filed in U.S. District Court by Nextel against Sarpy County recently was dismissed because the company and county officials reached a compromise, according to published reports.

Residents in the area are concerned about the height of the structure and they claim that the tower violates zoning ordinances.

Julie Grimms, who lives in the south end of the Pawnee Meadows housing development, said the tower's property is zoned for transitional agriculture to low-density use. The property where the tower is to be built, she added, should be zoned as commercial or light industrial.

Grimms said that according to the zoning manual structures must be in harmony with the character of the area and a 370-foot tower would not comply with that definition.

"I do not think a 370-foot tower should be considered to be in harmony with the character of the area," she said.

Grimms said more than 100 signatures opposing the tower's construction were gathered.

Loren Nothwehr is one resident who has been involved with the opposition effort from the beginning. Nothwehr lives about a half mile from the proposed tower.

Besides violating zoning regulations, Nothwehr said the tower will hinder residents' view of sunsets and looking out over the horizon.

Kathleen Mueller, who lives directly across from the proposed tower, said the tower's flashing light will obstruct her beautiful view of the rolling hills.

"That will be our view. Right now, there are beautiful rolling hills and eventually there will be houses over there," she said.

Puk said the company wants to expand its cell phone capabilities into Saunders County, broaden its customer base, satisfy the needs of Nebraska users traveling through the county and provide a link from Wahoo to Lincoln to the Omaha metropolitan area. The company launched its coverage to the metropolitan area in May 2000 and to the Fremont area earlier last year.

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This Page Last Updated
Jan 09, 2003 - 12:25:01 pm CST

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