Subject: [NEXTEL-1] NE - Nextel going to court in hopes of building tower

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 06 Jan 2003 19:10:06 -0500

NE - Nextel going to court in hopes of building tower
The Associated Press

The wireless-telephone firm of Nextel Partners Inc. is going to federal court in hopes of
winning approval to build a 400-foot tower south of Fremont, Neb., that would enhance
service in the Omaha area.

Nextel filed suit in U.S. District Court on Nov. 7 against the Saunders County Board,
which voted against a planning commission recommendation to approve Nextel's permit.

Residents who live near the proposed tower site in Saunders County, two miles south of the
Platte River bridge on U.S. Highway 77, argued to the county board that the tower would
ruin their view.

Nextel's lawsuit was filed two weeks before the company dropped another federal suit
against the Sarpy County Board. That suit was over a proposed 250-foot tower near
Wehrspann Lake.

Kevin Puk, a technical manager for Nextel, said the Sarpy County suit was dropped because
a compromise was reached for a 190-foot tower on higher ground.

Puk said his firm hopes to reach a similar compromise with Saunders County. But
supervisors tabled an alternative Nextel proposal for a 395-foot tower after the suit was
filed, Puk said.

Puk said he hopes they will consider a new plan for a 370-foot tower, which the planning
commission will address Monday night.

People in the Pawnee Meadows housing development said a tower would clutter their view.
The development's south edge is about one-half mile north of the proposed site.

"We'll have to look at this for a long time spoiling our view," resident Craig M. Smith
said. "What else do we have in Nebraska but the sky?"

Puk said Nextel, which entered Omaha in 2000, hopes to boost coverage between Fremont and
Lincoln.

In both the Sarpy County and Saunders County cases, Puk said, Nextel sued because it saw
no other way to appeal its defeats.

http://www.journalstar.com/printer-friendly.php?story_id=12629

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