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Cell phone tower raises Talent ire By WENDY SIPOREN TALENT -- A company that builds radio towers and leases space on them to telecommunication companies says it is part of the solution to the proliferation of cellular phone towers in Jackson County and across the nation. "Towers are expensive for people to build and maintain and most communities would rather not have large numbers of them," said tower development director Patrick Poling of American Towers, a national company based in Boston. "Hopefully by building it there won't be a second and a third and a fourth." But the company's latest endeavor -- a 120-foot galvanized steel tower erected on Highway 99 just outside city limits Monday -- is one tower too many for some Talent residents. "It's just hideously ugly and it's hideously ugly for miles around," said Councilwoman Joi Riley. "It's too big. It's overkill." Talent Avenue homeowner Richard Marsing is similarly unimpressed with the tower's size and location. "We've been enjoying our view, planning to build a two-story house," said Marsing, adding he was never notified about the tower. "Now we look out here and see this giant sore thumb. It looks like some kind of a landing field out there at night. "I'm not sure what to do. So I just called everybody I knew to complain about it." Marsing's calls Wednesday included the governor's office, where a staffer said the matter would be looked into, Marsing said. Part of the surprise over the tower is the length of time between its approval and construction. The Jackson County Planning Department approved a conditional use permit for Medford Cellular to build a tower on Highway 99 property owned by Art Lamensdorf back in June 1997. Notice was sent to 35 nearby property owners, including the city of Talent, which at the time was battling U.S. Cellular over the construction of a tower less than a mile down the road. Sometime in the last two years, the permit was extended and transferred to American Tower. In 1997, Talent City Planner Nancy Kincaid asked county planners to require the tower to be screened, but the county declined to do so. Coincidentally, Kincaid is beginning discussions with the county with the aim of increasing the city's input and influence on planning decisions for properties outside the city limit, but within the urban growth boundary. This would be particularly important for the commercial area along Highway 99, she said, and would prevent situations like this. "It's almost not fair for the county to be in charge of that," she said. "We get all the blame if it looks bad and the credit if it looks good. In the long run it could take some planning burden off the county." The tower came as an extra shock to Riley because just 15 minutes before she saw it for the first time, she was talking with fellow Councilwoman Tessa West about the possibility of requiring the towers to better blend in with their surroundings. "They call them stealth towers," Riley explained. "They can make them look like palm trees." She still wants the city to re-evaluate its ordinances. Riley said she would also ask the City Council Wednesday night to approve a letter to the county objecting to the tower's design. "They (the county) violated their neighbor," she said. "The guy that put that there wouldn't put that in his back yard, and he put that in my back yard and I'm pissed." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA