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114-foot cell tower proposed for country club Verizon is proposing to build a 114-foot cell tower on Rogue Valley Country Club property. Mail Tribune / Jamie Lusch Wednesday Oct 12, 2016 at 11:45 AM Oct 12, 2016 at 5:20 PM Greg Stiles Mail Tribune @GregMTBusiness Verizon Wireless proposes to build a 114-foot cell tower near the sixth hole tee boxes at Rogue Valley Country Club. That's near the southwest corner of the intersection of Hillcrest Road and Fairview Drive and a little less than 300 feet from Frank Brown's house. With his house on Fairview Drive cloaked by a canopy of hardwoods and shrubberies, Brown isn't necessarily bothered by another cell tower growing out of the country club's maintenance  area. What disturbs the 75-year-old who moved into the neighborhood in 2002, however, is potential health effects of 24/7 radio frequency radiation. A 93-foot cell tower thinly veiled as a fir tree and roughly aligned with Pierce Road was approved about the time Brown and his wife, Paula, moved from Ashland. "I eyeball that one from my front porch," Brown said. "I'm not interested in the aesthetics. What I am interested in is one, my property value, and two, the radio frequency; I've read everything about RF, and it's not very satisfying to me. Why do Israel and Sweden have big-time rules about cell towers and we don't?" The Medford Planning Commission will consider Verizon's conditional use permit request Thursday night. "The proposed site is needed to increase capacity, meaning that Verizon Wireless’ existing sites are reaching their full capacity for data and call usage," Verizon spokesperson Heidi Flato said. "With mobile data use trends rapidly accelerating, it's necessary to build additional wireless facilities in order to handle the increased traffic on our network in the Medford area." In its application for a monopine tower, Verizon said it can't locate equipment on the existing tower, owned by U.S. Cellular and shared with AT&T, because it needs to be perched 100 feet off the ground. Space above 50 feet on the existing tower, 600 feet to the west, isn't available. The proposed location is near a stand of tall trees, Verizon noted, adding it will blend in. The tower will be planted next to a 91-foot evergreen near the maintenance area sand box. A 15-foot-tall cedar hedge will conceal the base. Brown said he had a notion something was up when surveyors placed markers in his driveway a couple of years ago, but he only recently connected the dots. "They told me they were working on a project for the country club," he said. "I didn't have the slightest idea until they posted those white (planning meeting) signs." Interim Planning Director Kelly Akin said it's been a while since a tower request came in, and that one near Stewart and Columbus avenues was denied over setback issues. "I have seen a lot of antennas changed out as technology has changed," Akin said. "We're seeing a lot of 4G antennas." The Planning Commission will meet at 5:30 p.m. Thursday in Council Chambers, Room 300, City Hall, 411 W. Eighth St., Medford.     Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 541-776-4463 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GregMTBusiness, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/greg.stiles.31