HistoricOmaha

Omaha World Herald
Published Tuesday April 4, 2006

BY JOSEPH MORTON

About 75 residents rejoiced Tuesday after the Omaha City Council rejected a proposed cell phone tower.

The council voted 4-3 against U.S. Cellular’s request for a permit to build the tower north of Dundee, at 1502 N. 52nd St.

Councilmen Jim Suttle, Garry Gernandt, Jim Vokal and Franklin Thompson voted to reject the permit. Councilmen Dan Welch, Chuck Sigerson and Frank Brown voted in favor of it.

U.S. Cellular could bring the proposal to the council again or ask a judge to force the city to allow the tower. Company officials would not comment after the meeting.

A consultant for U.S. Cellular, Ken Weber, said the company had proved its case and met all necessary standards for building the tower. He said that if someone wants to change the standards for such towers, they should do so through legislation and not through arbitrary decisions.

"We just want service in line with what the city’s granted in the past," Weber said.

The company wants to build a 75-foot-tall tower in a church parking lot. The structure would be fashioned to look like a bell tower.

Neighbors poured out of Tuesday’s meeting talking about ways to celebrate their victory and praising the work of Councilman Jim Suttle, who spelled out a case against allowing the tower. Some of the neighbors wore T-shirts depicting a school playground and the slogan "U.S. Cellular Does Not Belong Here!"

Harry Morris, who lives near the site of the proposed tower, said that the long-term effects of living near a cell phone tower are not clear and that having a tower so close to a school would be irresponsible.

"We can’t be putting our children’s health and safety at risk," Morris said. "They did the right thing."

Morris said he and his neighbors are prepared to take their families out to picket the company if it continues to insist on building the tower.

In addition to the health concerns, neighbors had opposed the tower because of the aesthetic impact of a tall tower in a single-family, residential neighborhood.

Suttle detailed a case against the tower during Tuesday’s meeting. He said the tower was incompatible with a residential neighborhood and violated the city’s guidelines for such structures.

He said U.S. Cellular failed to demonstrate a need for the tower. He also cited the Omaha Planning Board’s recommendation that the permit be denied.

Weber said that Omaha has approved other such towers in residential areas and that U.S. Cellular has a significant service gap in the area around 52nd Street that needs to be addressed.

He dismissed concerns about health effects from cell towers and said cell phone companies are accustomed to running into emotional "not in my backyard" reactions.

Now, the City of Omaha could wind up facing a lawsuit. If so, it can’t be encouraged by the experience of other area cities.

Bellevue, Valley and Fremont all have been sued in recent years by cell phone companies after rejecting towers. Bellevue went to trial and lost, while the two others settled out of court.

Towers were built in all three cities.

 Omaha.com: Council rejects cell phone tower