Residents, Cell Phone Companies Face Off Over Towers

[larry]

Residents, Cell Phone Companies Face Off Over Towers

POSTED: 4:44 pm CDT July 5, 2005
UPDATED: 10:35 am CDT July 6, 2005

FORT WORTH, Texas -- A cellular communications transmission tower stands a few feet from Fort Worth resident Fran Kubesh's back yard. The tower stretches 150 feet tall, and Kubesh said the structure is an eyesore.

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"Something so wrong placed next to my house is intrusive," Kubesh (pictured, left) said.

The said the tower was built while she was away on a shopping trip. When she returned home, she said, the tower was in place.

She and a group of neighbors banded together to take on the cell companies and any future plans to build similar towers in other neighborhoods. The residents said the structures have a negative effect on property values.

The residents won this round in the fight between communities and communications giants.

Tarrant County on Tuesday passed an ordinance that restricts wireless carriers from building towers within 300 feet of neighborhoods.

Texas law allows counties to regulate where wireless companies can locate towers. Tarrant County officials used the law to pass the local ordinance.

"I know we got legislation passed (so) this won't happen to other neighborhoods," resident Ken McCoy said.

The Tarrant County ordinance requires wireless companies to apply for a special permit if the company plans to locate a tower closer than 300 feet to a neighborhood. The carriers also are required to post a sign to alert residents of a public hearing on the tower location.

Wireless industry analysts said they expect to see other counties enact similar ordinances.

http://www.nbc5i.com/news/4685841/detail.html

[larry]

"the tower was built while she was away on a shopping trip. When she returned home, she said, the tower was in place."

LOL that is too funny! Come on it takes weeks to build a tower of that size.

[Jay2TheRescue]

I WISH there was a tower in my neighborhood, then I'd have better in home coverage.