2 Churches Answer Call to Rent Out Space for Cell Towers

By Ryan Lengerich, The News-Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Ind.

Apr. 11–Cell-phone companies need land for new towers in Fort Wayne and have money to spend on them. Churches have the land the companies want and need the money the companies have.

More than 210 million people in the United States subscribe to a wireless plan, up from 38 million 10 years ago, said Joe Farren of CTIA-The Wireless Association, the industry’s trade organization.

"As a cell carrier sells more and more phones, as they get more and more customers on their system — as a result of that, they need more towers," said Jack Buck of JB Towers in Fort Wayne, which later this month will ask the Fort Wayne Board of Zoning Appeals for permission to put a 150-foot tower on land owned by Taylor Chapel United Methodist Church at 10145 Maysville Road. The tower, which would service Centennial Wireless and Sprint Nextel customers, would be built in a tree-lined area behind Menards.

Taylor Chapel will take in $800 monthly if the tower is built, said Bill Schuhler, the church’s board chairman.

"Every church I know needs money," said Bill Sinish, council

president at Faith United Church of Christ, 10707 Coldwater Road, where another 150-foot tower will be built.

"We could always use more money, and if we don’t use it, we could help food banks. If it would enhance our ability to help others, then it is a good thing."

Schuler said Taylor Chapel will put its money into the church’s capital fund.

Buck, also involved in the agreement to put a tower at Faith United, said lease prices vary by location, but $800 is about average.

He’s not ready to call the marriage of cell phone companies and churches a trend yet, however.

He estimates his company has made deals to build more than 40 towers, and only two of those were on church property.

"It is more of a case of a willing landowner," Buck said.

Sinish said church officials decided the tower on their property would not adversely affect any surrounding homes while enhancing wireless coverage in the area. He would not say how much his church’s lease is worth.

CTIA estimates 183,000 cell phone towers dot the U.S. landscape. About 60 sit inside Fort Wayne’s limits, with six approved in the past two years, said city planner Brian McMillan. The city has denied only two, he said.

One of those cases was later approved when the applicant agreed to make the tower look like a flag pole. Nationwide, cellular providers have disguised towers as trees and flag poles to earn the blessing of local government.

Others hide antennas inside church steeples or atop water towers; these are often more expensive options, and less lucrative because they hold less carriers.

Cell tower antennas need to be located high enough so they can adequately cover the area. They generally average about 150 feet tall in Fort Wayne.

Across the country, local governments are reviewing applications to put towers at churches, cemeteries, schools and parks.

"Wireless carriers, they have a proud history of working with local communities and trying to meet their wireless needs, and also their wishes about where would be best to put infrastructure. “¦ That is a tough challenge," Farren said. "People will say we want wireless service but we don’t want those towers, but the laws of physics don’t allow you to have it both ways."

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Public meeting

What: Fort Wayne Board of Zoning Appeals’ public hearing to consider a proposed 150-foot cell phone tower on Maysville Road, on land behind Menards

When: 7 p.m. April 27

Where: Room 126 of the City-County Building, 1 E. Main St.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The News-Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Ind.

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