Zoning Board Approves Cell Tower at School
Posted on: Wednesday, 12 October 2005, 15:00 CDT
By Susan Hylton, Tulsa World, Okla.
Oct. 12--A special exception that will allow a Cingular Wireless cell tower at Edison High School was narrowly approved Tuesday by the city Board of Adjustment.
The 3-2 vote will allow Tulsa Public Schools to receive $7,200 for the first year for one antenna, said Les Pace, TPS' energy analyst.
The tower will be able to hold three antennas.
Pace said the district has had a tower at Webster High School for five years and that it has not caused any problems.
Two neighbors expressed concern about the lighting of the tower, which will illuminate the parking lot of the school at 2800 E. 41st St.
Board members Clayda Stead and Frazier Henke voted against the exception.
Stead called it an ugly tower that could not be disguised as a flagpole with a support building that is not in harmony with the aesthetics of the school building.
"To me, it's about as bad as having a Dumpster out there," she said.
Henke insisted that cell towers work better in commercial areas and should be camouflaged in some way if they are in residential areas.
Board member Monte Dunham argued that cell towers in commercial areas can end up be ing closer to residential areas than the tower at Edison would be because the school is situated on about 40 acres.
"If you only put cell towers where you wanted them, you wouldn't put them anywhere," he said. "We have to have them, and I can't think of a better place."
Attorney Charles Norman said Cingular needs the tower because its service is disrupted in that part of city because of the hilly terrain and number of trees.
In other action, the board found that a proposed car wash at 17th Street and Harvard Avenue, across the street from an elementary school and bordering Florence Park, would not fit the character of the neighborhood.
Les Gregg of Sapulpa wanted to build a six-bay car wash at the former site of a True Value hardware store, similar to his car wash at 101st Street and Memorial Drive.
About a dozen opponents at tended the meeting, but Dunham said he didn't even need to hear from them.
"There's no way I'll vote for a car wash on this location," he said, noting the shallowness of the lot, its proximity to the neighborhood and the fact that Lanier Elementary School's crossing guard would be situated directly across from what would be a 24-hour operation.
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Source: Tulsa World
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