In a rare occurrence Tuesday night, the Auburn City Council did not take a vote on a proposed cell tower. Since no action was taken, the issue died on the table and was effectively denied, said Assistant City Manager Megan Crouch.
Plans for the Verizon cell tower came before the Council for conditional use approval after the Planning Commission recommended approval of the project in a 6–2 vote at their meeting earlier in the month. Since the tower required conditional use approval, both the Planning Commission and the Council had to hear the application.
The plan was to construct a 260-foot cell tower on Wimberly Road. The tower would have been near the Woodland Park neighborhood.
Several residents of the neighborhood and surrounding areas spoke during a public hearing on the tower. They voiced concerns over the height of the tower and the possibility of it falling.
“Depending on how tall it is, our homes are within the fall radius or close there to,” said Darren Olsen, an Auburn resident who spoke during the public hearing on this issue.
Other residents seconded those concerns while bringing forth their own worries about property value. Several residents of the neighborhood said they thought the tower would lower their property value, making it difficult for them to resell their homes.
“We pay a premium for our property because we love Auburn, and I am afraid that value would go considerably down [if the tower is built],” said Murray Guy, another Auburn resident that spoke during the public hearing on this issue.
A representative for Verizon was present at the meeting. The representative said the tower was to address a coverage issue for calls and data in the area surrounding the tower. The tower, like most new cell towers, would be a 5G tower.
The tower’s proposed height would require it to have lighting on top to signal the tower’s presence to aircrafts.
After the public hearing on the tower, no Council member made a motion on the conditional use approval of the tower, so the issue died on the table.
In order for the Planning Commission, and subsequently the Council, to reconsider the tower, the applicant that requested the conditional use Tuesday night would have to show significant change to the plans in order for the tower to be brought up again for that land.
In the later portion of the meeting, during citizens’ open forum, several residents continued their concerns from the last Council meeting about the closure of the East Alabama Medical Center HealthPlus Fitness Center heated indoor pool.
Mayor Ron Anders said he and other City leaders and staff meet with staff at EAMC on Friday to discuss options with the HealthPlus pool.
Anders said he thought the meeting was productive and expects to hear from hospital staff soon about what action, if any, can be taken to keep the pool open.
Visit theplainsman.com for more on issues the City Council considered Tuesday evening.
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Elizabeth, senior in journalism and political science, is the community editor for The Plainsman
