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Sprint plans cell phone tower Eagle Point hill project would boost reception By Melissa Martin EAGLE POINT � Sprint, the company that provides telephone service in Eagle Point, hopes to build a camouflaged cell phone tower on the �E Hill� near the city reservoir. City staff are recommending the tower be a single pole, painted to blend in with the surroundings and have no lights on top. Mericom Corp., of Wilsonville, will present a plan for the 60-foot tower with a 10-foot antenna to the Eagle Point City Council at 7:30 tonight. The city is asking for a $1,250 monthly lease payment for Sprint�s use of city property, half of Sprint�s fees from renting out tower space and a free spot on the tower for the city. "We have some dead spots in the city where we have no communications with our portable radios," said David Hussell, city administrator. "That would eliminate all dead spots. There would be good communications between our vehicles and with dispatch services at City Hall." Mericom wants to build a tower in the Eagle Point area to improve reception and range for Sprint cell phone users along the Highway 62 corridor, he said. There is also potential for better reception for other cell phone users if Sprint sells tower space to other providers. Towers are cropping up around the Rogue Valley as more people depend on cell phones for business and personal phone use. "We�ve had an increase in applications for cell towers," said Mike Savage, a Jackson County planner who is mapping cell-tower sites in Southern Oregon. Jackson County has 99 of the 2,000 cell towers in the state, according to Tom Highland, aviation planner for the Oregon Department of Aviation in Salem. "We�re having an iron forest out there," Highland said. Many towers spring up on speculation that companies will buy space to install communication devices, Highland said. Yet many sit vacant, including a new tower at the Dairy Queen in White City. Highland advocates "co-locating" antennas on existing towers before putting up new ones. The tower in Eagle Point would be fenced in a 40-foot area above the city�s 3.6 million-gallon reservoir. It�s also the future site of a second storage tank planned for residential drinking water. The City Council last year denied a conditional use permit to Boston-based American Towers to build a 160-foot, lighted tower at the same location, Hussell said. Mericom�s proposed tower is smaller, takes less space at the future reservoir site and may not be required to beam lights, which tends to draw complaints from cell tower neighbors. The Federal Aviation Administration requires many towers in Southern Oregon to have lights for the safety of low-flying airplanes and helicopters. "The Interstate 5 corridor between Eugene and California has the highest aircraft accident rate in the state," Highland said. "We want to make sure towers are lighted and marked as aircraft travel through the canyon." Reach reporter Melissa Martin at 776-4497, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.