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GLENWOOD SPRINGS — Verizon Wireless returned to the Garfield County commissioners on Monday for the third time in the last three years to try and win approval for a new cell phone antenna site south of Glenwood Springs.
The third time was the charm for the company, as commissioners voted to approve the company’s plan to build a new facility. Commissioners Larry McCown and Trési Houpt voted in favor of granting the company a special use permit to build the cell phone antenna site, while John Martin voted against it.
“I still (believe) there are better sites that I can find myself,” Martin said after commissioners voted.
Verizon wants to install two sets of four, 4-foot-high antennas on a building yet to be constructed at the Glenwood Commercial LLC site on the east side of Highway 82 south of Glenwood Springs. The proposed wireless facility will help fill a coverage gap for customers in southern part of Glenwood Springs, including travelers on Highway 82, according to the company.
During the hour-long public hearing on the matter, many questions revolved around the company’s decision not to locate the proposed facility at other wireless sites around Glenwood Springs. Houpt asked the company what made the Highway 82 site an ideal location for the company.
“The purpose of this site is twofold: It provides coverage to the south, which is lacking to date,” said Dave Kennard, a systems engineer for Verizon. “It also enhances our capacity at the south end of Glenwood Springs.”
But homeowners who lived near the proposed antennas criticized the location.
“We are deeply concerned for the property value of our home and our neighborhood,” Jamie Campa, 54, told commissioners, reflecting her and her parents’ opinion about the new facility and its possible impacts on the health of area residents. “All of us in our neighborhood would greatly appreciate you to vote no.”
In November, Martin voted against the proposed facility, while McCown voted for it. Houpt was absent because she was participating in a meeting of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, of which she is a member.
The company then resubmitted its application with additional information and a map that showed 12 locations where the company considered putting the facility, but which wouldn’t work because of engineering challenges, owner-agreement issues or county height restrictions.
When the commissioners last considered the matter in November, property owners in the area said they were worried about a reduction in property values, and possible health impacts from the antennas’ radio frequency emissions.
Ann Closser, a land use consultant for Verizon, denied a connection between a wireless facility and a decrease in property values Monday. She added that federal regulations prevent counties from rejecting cell antenna proposals based on health concerns, and that those concerns are overstated.
She said emissions from the equipment are negligible compared to any household appliance.
In other business at the commissioners’ meeting Monday, they approved a bid for up to $1,007,000 to Mueller Construction Services Inc. for remodeling the first floor of the county’s jail, which was once occupied by community corrections.
The bid was put out in November and Mueller came back with the lowest bid.
Sheriff Lou Vallario said the remodeling is intended to build a “transition pod” where new inmates can be booked, released and reclassified — including maximum-security inmates. He said the new construction will help make the flow of inmates in and out of the facility “more circular.”
Vallario said the remodeling project was budgeted for the county’s 2007 budget year, but that it was moved to the 2008 fiscal year.
“It is coming about a year later than what I would have liked,” Vallario said.
Contact Phillip Yates: 384-9117pyates@postindependent.com
Post Independent, Glenwood Springs, Colorado CO
The third time was the charm for the company, as commissioners voted to approve the company’s plan to build a new facility. Commissioners Larry McCown and Trési Houpt voted in favor of granting the company a special use permit to build the cell phone antenna site, while John Martin voted against it.
“I still (believe) there are better sites that I can find myself,” Martin said after commissioners voted.
Verizon wants to install two sets of four, 4-foot-high antennas on a building yet to be constructed at the Glenwood Commercial LLC site on the east side of Highway 82 south of Glenwood Springs. The proposed wireless facility will help fill a coverage gap for customers in southern part of Glenwood Springs, including travelers on Highway 82, according to the company.
During the hour-long public hearing on the matter, many questions revolved around the company’s decision not to locate the proposed facility at other wireless sites around Glenwood Springs. Houpt asked the company what made the Highway 82 site an ideal location for the company.
“The purpose of this site is twofold: It provides coverage to the south, which is lacking to date,” said Dave Kennard, a systems engineer for Verizon. “It also enhances our capacity at the south end of Glenwood Springs.”
But homeowners who lived near the proposed antennas criticized the location.
“We are deeply concerned for the property value of our home and our neighborhood,” Jamie Campa, 54, told commissioners, reflecting her and her parents’ opinion about the new facility and its possible impacts on the health of area residents. “All of us in our neighborhood would greatly appreciate you to vote no.”
In November, Martin voted against the proposed facility, while McCown voted for it. Houpt was absent because she was participating in a meeting of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, of which she is a member.
The company then resubmitted its application with additional information and a map that showed 12 locations where the company considered putting the facility, but which wouldn’t work because of engineering challenges, owner-agreement issues or county height restrictions.
When the commissioners last considered the matter in November, property owners in the area said they were worried about a reduction in property values, and possible health impacts from the antennas’ radio frequency emissions.
Ann Closser, a land use consultant for Verizon, denied a connection between a wireless facility and a decrease in property values Monday. She added that federal regulations prevent counties from rejecting cell antenna proposals based on health concerns, and that those concerns are overstated.
She said emissions from the equipment are negligible compared to any household appliance.
In other business at the commissioners’ meeting Monday, they approved a bid for up to $1,007,000 to Mueller Construction Services Inc. for remodeling the first floor of the county’s jail, which was once occupied by community corrections.
The bid was put out in November and Mueller came back with the lowest bid.
Sheriff Lou Vallario said the remodeling is intended to build a “transition pod” where new inmates can be booked, released and reclassified — including maximum-security inmates. He said the new construction will help make the flow of inmates in and out of the facility “more circular.”
Vallario said the remodeling project was budgeted for the county’s 2007 budget year, but that it was moved to the 2008 fiscal year.
“It is coming about a year later than what I would have liked,” Vallario said.
Contact Phillip Yates: 384-9117pyates@postindependent.com
Post Independent, Glenwood Springs, Colorado CO
