EMUJeff
January 31st, 2008, 4:46 pm
What have Cell Phone Towers meant for your community?
What are the pluses and minuses?
Here is an article about a planned tower from the Holland Sentinal
EMUJeff
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Tower tally: Ottawa County takes inventory of communications structures
BY JEREMY GONSIOR
Improved cell phone service could be on the way for Ottawa County residents thanks to a new communications tower inventory.
Local planners now have information they can give quickly to service providers that want to build new towers or add equipment to existing towers in the county.
The inventory, developed by the county's planning and grants department, includes an interactive map showing the locations of the 144 towers in the county as of November 2007.
Mark Knudsen, director of the department, said the inventory is the result of many local planning departments requesting more cell tower information.
Townships tend to have the desire to improve cell service, he said, but don't want their area cluttered with towers for many individual companies.
"The local planners have no idea where all the towers are," Knudsen said. "We are hoping for more coordination and co-location because of that knowledge (from the inventory)."
Knudsen said Spring Lake Township has already used the inventory. A company was interested in building a tower there, the township reviewed the map, saw there was no tower in the area and allowed the request.
Park Township Clerk Jeff Ebihara, who has a background in the communication tower business, said tower information is available on other Web sites, yet those sites are probably not as accessible.
"From a planning standpoint, (the inventory) is great," he said. "It expedites the implementation of that technology."
The inventory includes 134 towers registered with the Federal Communications Commission, 10 unregistered towers and 16 towers not yet constructed.
Knudsen said the owner of each tower is listed, but the inventory doesn't include every business located on the tower yet.
Todd Wolters, Olive Township supervisor, said managing cell towers is important, especially in a rural setting.
"We prefer co-location," he said. "We don't want to see these things up all over."
NOTABLE TOWERS
One notable tower included in the count is the Tri State Christian TV tower in Allendale Township. Located on the western edge of Grand Valley State University, the 988-foot tower serves the network based in Illinois. Another large structure is the 479-foot Moody Bible Institute tower in Zeeland Township. It serves the historic Christian university based in Chicago.
What are the pluses and minuses?
Here is an article about a planned tower from the Holland Sentinal
EMUJeff
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Tower tally: Ottawa County takes inventory of communications structures
BY JEREMY GONSIOR
Improved cell phone service could be on the way for Ottawa County residents thanks to a new communications tower inventory.
Local planners now have information they can give quickly to service providers that want to build new towers or add equipment to existing towers in the county.
The inventory, developed by the county's planning and grants department, includes an interactive map showing the locations of the 144 towers in the county as of November 2007.
Mark Knudsen, director of the department, said the inventory is the result of many local planning departments requesting more cell tower information.
Townships tend to have the desire to improve cell service, he said, but don't want their area cluttered with towers for many individual companies.
"The local planners have no idea where all the towers are," Knudsen said. "We are hoping for more coordination and co-location because of that knowledge (from the inventory)."
Knudsen said Spring Lake Township has already used the inventory. A company was interested in building a tower there, the township reviewed the map, saw there was no tower in the area and allowed the request.
Park Township Clerk Jeff Ebihara, who has a background in the communication tower business, said tower information is available on other Web sites, yet those sites are probably not as accessible.
"From a planning standpoint, (the inventory) is great," he said. "It expedites the implementation of that technology."
The inventory includes 134 towers registered with the Federal Communications Commission, 10 unregistered towers and 16 towers not yet constructed.
Knudsen said the owner of each tower is listed, but the inventory doesn't include every business located on the tower yet.
Todd Wolters, Olive Township supervisor, said managing cell towers is important, especially in a rural setting.
"We prefer co-location," he said. "We don't want to see these things up all over."
NOTABLE TOWERS
One notable tower included in the count is the Tri State Christian TV tower in Allendale Township. Located on the western edge of Grand Valley State University, the 988-foot tower serves the network based in Illinois. Another large structure is the 479-foot Moody Bible Institute tower in Zeeland Township. It serves the historic Christian university based in Chicago.