Clark Planners OK Cell Phone Tower Project
By Amy Polk

Clark Township will have better wireless telephone reception and may soon have high speed Internet service with the installation of a new tower between State Avenue and M-134 in Cedarville.

The Clark Township Planning Commission Tuesday, May 8, unanimously approved a special land use permit application from Cellere, a Traverse-city based company that helps implement wireless technology by filing permits and paperwork for companies that want to expand wireless services. The company applied for the permit on behalf of Florida-based SBA Communications, which will build the 290-foot guyed tower, pending a few final hurdles, said Papillon Erreca, a Cellere agent.

Local land use approval is one of the necessary components in the four-month tower approval process, Mr. Erreca said.

"We're nearing the tail end of that now," he said.

The firm is awaiting the June 15 delivery of an Environmental Impact Study required by the National Environmental Policy Agency (NEPA), and SBA plans construction in June. The proposed tower has met safety requirements and has a 100% fall zone, Mr. Erreca said, meaning that if it falls in any direction from its base, it will not hit any structures below.

Construction will take 30 days, and SBA expects completion in July.

The first tenant on the tower will be Dobson Communications Corporation of Minnesota, the parent company of Cellular One. Customers of that wireless telephone company will get better reception in the Clark Township area when the company's coverage area is expanded. Mr. Erreca said the new service area will have about a 5.5-mile radius broadcast range, bridging the space between a tower near DeTour Village and another tower near Rockview Road. Most of the Les Cheneaux Islands fall within the tower's broadcast range. Mr. Erreca estimated the wireless Internet range will be approximately three miles from the tower.

Since the tower is not owned by any service provider, other companies can rent space. Up to five tenants can use the tower, Mr. Erreca said, and Cellular One will have the top space at 290 feet.

Lighthouse Computers has applied to mount its broadcast equipment on the tower at 250 feet, and plans to be the first highspeed Internet service provider in Clark Township. CS Connect, a high-speed wireless Internet startup operated by Dan Burrows of Cedarville, also may use the tower as an anchor site. Mr. Burrows has also been discussing the possibility of building smaller satellite towers around the Eastern Upper Peninsula.

Clark Township can use the tower for $1 a year to broadcast emergency services or 9-1-1 radio transmissions, Mr. Erreca said.

"I think [high speed Internet] is something this area has been eagerly anticipating," said Planning Commission Chair Steve Honnila.

Both Dobson and Lighthouse want to mount their equipment on the tower during construction next month to expedite their service expansion in the area.

Cellere negotiated a lease agreement between SBA and the Conrad Shoberg family to use a section of vacant commercial property that is sandwiched between State Avenue to the north and M-134 to the south. Access to the proposed tower site will be cleared through the woods, but the land will not be cleared other than the actual tower site. Tower construction will cost about $220,000. The tower will be lit at the top with a flashing dual lighting system that shines white in the day and red at night.

"You won't be able to see the tower at all, except the top of the tower," Mr. Erreca said. "The top of the tower will be visible as you come down M-134 or State Avenue."

Commissioner Dave Dunning asked whether SBA had provisions in its lease agreement in case the company goes bankrupt. Mr. Erreca said the contract does include a stipulation that if the tower is ever abandoned, the company has 90 days to remove the structure.

"It protects the landowner and it protects the township," Mr. Erreca said. "These towers do require maintenance, and we don't want to leave the township with that."

Utility structure is allowed as a special land use in the township's zoning ordinance, providing it is determined that the structure does not adversely affect the township's development plan, health and safety of residents or workers, and that standards for the use can be met.