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OH NO, a Cell phone tower.

Started by beetle, July 30, 2005, 07:47:51 AM

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beetle

I received a call the other evening that I beleive most homeowners would dread, my neigbor seems to be highly considering a offer by a cell phone company to put up a tower on his property, now keep in mind he does not own multiple acres, he has five ! and the only place it could go on his property is 250' from my side door. They (cell company) contacted me also, however, we said no way even though the $ would be a help, $1250.00 per month.

This is a scenic rural residential area, most of the people around me have 2-3 acre lots where he has five and I have ten.

Now here I am.. I bought this land when I was 19 years old and worked my butt off as a kid to pay it off, I have then spent the last 15 years, again working my tail off to have a nice comfortable mini farm, I have just spent the last 2 years building a Timber Frame Barn to add to my place and he is thinking about putting up a tower 250' away. Every day when I walk out my door or the Barn door I will be staring at a frigg.. tower.

Dont get me wrong, they are ineviatable, we are going to have them around if we like it or not, but there is a place for them and it aint in a residential spot.

How is a little guy like me going to fight a large corporation with very deep pockets?
Too many hobbies...not enough time.

bull

Don't kick a gift horse in the mouth $1250 a month is good money = lots of new toys maybe the guy upstairs is giving you a reward for all your past hardwork. Speak w/ the cell company if you have the acreage you may have a better location out of site.. They also have new towers (monopoles) that can look like a great big flag pole or a pine tree and some will even put up the flag if you request it...  they also need an area for a building and usually will landscape and plant to block line of site views..... people complained years ago when they put thru the ugly powerlines. now we can hardly see them....  Good luck !!!


sawguy21

A friend bought his acreage because it has a tower. The rent made it affordable. You won't notice it after a while.
old age and treachery will always overcome youth and enthusiasm

DanG

Horsefeathers!  You will notice it, and they won't landscape around it.  Not only that, but it will have a strobe light on top, flashing incessantly, all night, every night.  >:( >:(

Check with your county's Planning and Zoning department, and follow whatever procedure they have to object to it.  The company probably has alternative sites in mind, so they might locate it elsewhere if they get too much static about this one.  Fight it every way you can.  Good luck.
"I don't feel like an old man.  I feel like a young man who has something wrong with him."  Dick Cavett
"Beat not thy sword into a plowshare, rather beat the sword of thine enemy into a plowshare."

woodmills1

I have seen both the pine tree type and the flagpole ones.  The flag pole isn't bad but on close look it is like Wow thats a big flag.  The pine tree ones are just stupid, 50 feet higher than any nearby trees with two or three scraggly looking fake branches.
James Mills,Lovely wife,collect old tools,vacuuming fool,36 bdft/hr,oak paper cutter,ebonic yooper rapper nauga seller, Blue Ox? its not fast, 2 cat family, LT70,edger, 375 bd ft/hr, we like Bob,free heat,no oil 12 years,big splitter, baked stuffed lobster, still cuttin the logs dere IAM

redpowerd

a metal pine tree would be goddy'er than a normal tower.

i thought it took more than five acres to guy them off. but then again ive never seen a metal pine tree.

good luck
NO FARMERS -- NO FOOD
northern adirondak yankee farmer

beenthere

Two things about a tower (and I am on a hill which makes this close to 'home' like Beetle).

One. Will looking out from a tower overhead (on my place) be less offensive than looking across at a tower on my neighbors place 400 or more feet away?  I think (my wife doesn't agree) that if it was on my land, it wouldn't be as offensive in my 'viewshed'.  ???

Second: I have heard that the land the tower is on (small postage stamp parcel leased to the tower company) is assessed at a very high amount, but the tower company refuses to pay the taxes. The landowner, to avoid losing the land to a delinquent tax sale, then has to pay the high taxes to get his land back. This may not make sense, and is only what I have heard.

Frustrating dilema to have to consider. I am hoping that towers will be obsolete in the near future, maybe using satelite's to more and smaller ground receivers, or better transmission at ground level. More towers come from demand. An older gent who is a neighbor is a complainer that his cell-phone won't operate from his back 40, such that if he needs to make a distress call to his wife or she needs to reach him, he can't without more towers to reach into every depression.  ::) I think more sharing of towers is needed, not every different company putting their own up. But this may be done more than I realize too.

I dislike the addition of the night lights. Drove across Iowa after dark recently, and the night view looked like a big City, what with the towers and the all-night yard lights on. I like 'night'   ;D
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

Corley5

I want one and have even contacted the cell phone companies about installing one here.  We do live in area with poor reception and a tower is needed.  I haven't had any contact in a couple years with them and last time I did they were still concentrating on the Interstate corridors.  Probably time to make a few calls again.
Burnt Gunpowder is the Smell Of Freedom

Fraxinus

Quote from: woodmills1 on July 30, 2005, 08:37:56 AM
The pine tree ones are just stupid, 50 feet higher than any nearby trees with two or three scraggly looking fake branches.
I agree, woodmills 1.  Have you seen that one in Canterbury, just north of Exit 18 on I-93?  Sticks out like a sore thumb and you can see it for about a mile as you approach the exit.
And, DanG, they don't all have to have a light on them.  It's my understanding that they only have to have one if they stick up 200' or more.  Most of them around here are 170' to 190' tall, just so that they don't have to have a light on them.  My neighbor and my brother complain about having to look at them.  Both of them have cell phones.
Another brother and I don't much care that they're there.  Neither one of us has a cell phone.
Sort of like the people who complain about the noise and smell of a farm with their mouth full of food.  And the people who squawk about the paper mill stench while drawing a nice paycheck from it.
Our town has banned them.  But I can see about 4 or 5 of them FROM this town in other towns.  Now isn't that just precious?  Those other towns are getting the revenue; we're not getting any and we still have to look at them.  How smart is that???
Grandchildren, Bluegrass music, old tractors, trees and sawmills.  It don't get no better'n that!

Buzz-sawyer

Well I lived through the EXACT situation as a younger guy.
I lived in ALton  a town of 40000 people.......in a not fancy part of town.
One of the first cell towers in this entire area was to go up not 20 feet from the road we drove and not 100 yards from our house.
I went to the zoning and plannig and they agreed ..it was absurd to put it thier (Falling ice was CRAZY!...100# chuncks falling 100 feet).
They denied the permit..well that was not to stop them!
Turns out though we did the petition thing.....talked to our 2 local alderman.....the payola won out and the attorney for the city ..who had the same last name as the cell tower.....well you get the idea.........there went my nuieve outlook about politics at age 19!!!!
    HEAR THAT BLADE SING!

Furby

Yup, they don't all need lights, and a lot of the mono pole ones don't use guy wires.
If it is indeed true that the tower company don't pay the taxes and the assesment is real high, it could be that the tower company is gambling on getting some cheap land down the road. ;)

I'd have to think real hard on it and read all the fine print many, many times, but the money does sound good. You could always use it to invest in more land.

DanG

Oh yeah, did I mention the big, ugly chain link fence they'll put around it, and the security lights, and the trucks coming in and out at all hours?  Down here, all of'em have lights.  Most of'em are 250' to 300' tall, even the mono-poles, unless they are right in the city.   Ours are probably taller due to the flat land around these parts.
"I don't feel like an old man.  I feel like a young man who has something wrong with him."  Dick Cavett
"Beat not thy sword into a plowshare, rather beat the sword of thine enemy into a plowshare."

Fraxinus

I have never seen one like that around here, Dan.
Grandchildren, Bluegrass music, old tractors, trees and sawmills.  It don't get no better'n that!

Rod

I think in 5 to 10 years there wont be any Cell phone towers bcause they will use satellite phones

bull

theres a pine tree pole just off rte 2 in the town of Harvard real ugly 50 above the tree line... ended up in an article about old growth forest back when the city slickers and do gooders were trying to stop the local ski area from expanding... One of them city slickers thought that the cell tower was an old growth left over from the kings grant.... would make a hell of a mast for a ship.
just down the road from me there as a mono pole off the highway you cant even tell theres a chainlink fence or even a 12x12 utility building they put in a beautiful dirt road planted shrubs,trees and flower etc.. nice job and a real good fit....  The planning board *( real group of NIMBY/ YUPPIES)* actually came up w/ some good regs. and a bylaw regarding cell towers. I think our town may benefit. 

ksu_chainsaw

A friend of mine ended up with a cell tower on his land.  He gets around $900 a month plus 6 free phones with unlimited service on their network.  They put up chain link fence around the guy wires so that you could drive a truck under the wires without hitting them, and they also put fence around the base of the tower.  There is also a small shed inside that fence with a driveway up to it.  They put the tower up out in his pasture, so he can still run cattle all around the tower and can use almost all of the land.  They also put up his 2-way radio antenna on the cell tower, so he now gets a lot better reception on his base station, and doesnt have to pay the local radio dealer for a repeater anymore.

This is what Ive learned about cell towers.

Charles

caryr

Quote from: Rod on July 31, 2005, 07:42:01 AM
I think in 5 to 10 years there wont be any Cell phone towers bcause they will use satellite phones
The latency in a satellite based system will likely prevent this from happening. If anything, towers will become more pervasive as wireless broadband becomes available.

Cary

Fraxinus

Quote from: bull on July 31, 2005, 12:45:13 PM
One of them city slickers thought that the cell tower was an old growth left over from the kings grant.... would make a hell of a mast for a ship.

ROFL!  I betcha them are same people that see the one in Canterbury and think it's a Giant Sequioa or a Redwood.   
Probably call their congressman to complain...on their cell phone.
Grandchildren, Bluegrass music, old tractors, trees and sawmills.  It don't get no better'n that!

Rod

Cary,I could be wrong.I guess we will have to wait and see if someone can figure out that small minor detail.

Ernie

At least you guys get rental.  We get zip >:( >:(
A very wise man once told me . Grand children are great, we should have had them first

Tom

You mean that they stick one of those things on your property and don't pay you for the use of the property?  I'd be out there with my shotgun. :-X

Ernie

I have known people who have seriously considered Cordex wrapped a few times around the base. ;D

They don't even have the decency to try to disguise the blasted things. >:( >:(
A very wise man once told me . Grand children are great, we should have had them first

rebocardo

> if you have the acreage you may have a better location out of site

This sounds like great advice! Plus, you get more money and can sort of hide it so you don't see it.

beetle

No....If he or I had 50 acres or so and can tuke it back out of the way, then yes, let's talk. There is a place for them and right dab in the middle of a residential area aint it. I see em around my line and they are going to get lead in their rear.....period!

My new Pup sure like it when she hears that crack, and she fetches real good.  ???
Too many hobbies...not enough time.

DanG

As I said, there may be regional differences because of terrain.  All I can speak about is the way it is here.  Ya see, I was one of the guys that had to drive around in people's yards in the middle of the night to get those things working after a storm.  ALL the towers around here are big ol' ugly things with lots of flashing lights.  Each one they build is bigger and uglier than the rest.  They are ALL surrounded by chain link, except for the guy anchors, which are unprotected most of the time.  I have visited almost all the towers in the area, and I ain't seen a pretty one yet, including the "pine tree" at I-10 & US319.

I wouldn't want to speculate on what the industry might be like 10 years from now.  Everything could change in a year or two, or a new technology may not come along for 20 years. ???  I do know that they have recently started installing GPS recievers in all the new phones, so they can transmit your location to 911.  That came up on a recent thread and I wasn't so sure it was true, but I've since verified it.
"I don't feel like an old man.  I feel like a young man who has something wrong with him."  Dick Cavett
"Beat not thy sword into a plowshare, rather beat the sword of thine enemy into a plowshare."

thedeeredude

I seem to remember this topic coming up not too long ago.

http://www.fraudfrond.com/

Rockn H

That's a cool site, deeredude.  Back in '99 I hauled one of these out of Ohio down to Orlando Fl.  I'm pretty sure it wasn't the one mentioned in the other post on hwy 301, but I can't remember just where I unloaded it. ::)  I guess I've slept too much since then. ;D

mometal77

Reminds me of visiting a friend in tampa looking at a refinery across the way was million dollar houses.
Too many Assholes... not enough bullets..."I might have become a millionaire, but I chose to become a tramp!

Murf

Actually, I hate to be the one to go upstream, but ......

If they are going to build it 250' from your door it will be just like a really tall tree, you won't see the top where the antennae's and lights are unless you go outside and look wayyyyyyy up.

On the other hand, they built one across the lake from my summer place, it has the brightest red light on top you can believe and sticks out like a sore thumb on top of a beautiful forested ridge overlooking the lake.

A friend of mine has one right behind his house too, on some Guberment owned land. He hardly noticed it after a month, but the sneaky bugger told the cell phone co. man who came around later to ask if there were any problems that his TV reception sucked now, they picked up the tab for him to get digital cable service.  ;D

If you're going to break a law..... make sure it's Murphy's Law.

FiremanEd

Any cell company reps listening???

Got land, want tower, please call.... $ negotiable....  ;D
Full time Firefighter / Paramedic
WoodMizer LT300 as secondary, full time job.
AccuTrac Electric Edger

Rockn H

FiremanEd,
If you get a number don't be stingy with it.   I just happen to have a corner available myself.  As a matter of fact, we need a tower anyway.  Ain't got but one bar, and you have to go outside and assume a rather difficult yoga position to get it. 8) 8)

Jeff

I think I would let them build it if it was directly straddling my house. That way I can look out every which way and say "What tower?"
Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

Rockn H

That's right Jeff, if you can't see it , it must not be there. 8)

DanG

Wouldn't do your signal any good, Rockn. They beam the signals N, E, S, & W.  I don't think they do U & D.
"I don't feel like an old man.  I feel like a young man who has something wrong with him."  Dick Cavett
"Beat not thy sword into a plowshare, rather beat the sword of thine enemy into a plowshare."

beenthere

Anyone added the booster antenae to your cell phone?  I just recently heard about it, and have one ordered. Look up cell phone accessories, and it is something that fits in behind the battery pack. Only sells for a couple bucks.
My son was here and left his charger at a Motel, and when looking into buying another over the net, he discovered these boosters. He shopped locally for a charger and was told by his cell phone co. that they couldn't sell them, but the saleslady said she has one in hers, and it does work. I've got one on order to try out. We're in that 'border' position with cell phone coverage too.   No U & D either.  ;)
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

redpowerd

i wonder if the same disscusion arose when the first upright silos were erected.
NO FARMERS -- NO FOOD
northern adirondak yankee farmer

Fraxinus

Imagine if the EPA, zoning boards and OSHA had been around when the first settlers were clearing their land. :-\ :-\
Grandchildren, Bluegrass music, old tractors, trees and sawmills.  It don't get no better'n that!

Rockn H

If we had all the red tape then that we have now , we would still have just 13 stars on the flag. ::)

redpowerd

theres no stars on a british flag
NO FARMERS -- NO FOOD
northern adirondak yankee farmer

Timburr

Red.. forgive my ignorance, I seem to be missing the point... please elaborate!
Sense is not common

DanG

I think he meant we would still be under British rule.

Hmmmm!  Wonder if there would be more tax on sweet tea than on the regular kind? ??? :P
"I don't feel like an old man.  I feel like a young man who has something wrong with him."  Dick Cavett
"Beat not thy sword into a plowshare, rather beat the sword of thine enemy into a plowshare."

Timburr

I hear you loud and clear DanG.
Britain must be one of them 3rd world nations, 'cos as far as I am aware, we are STILL under British rule. :D ;D :D
Sense is not common

sawguy21

I think he means that they would still be a British colony. Too bogged down in bureaucracy to fight.
old age and treachery will always overcome youth and enthusiasm

SwampDonkey

I've been told by a couple of land owners around here that the cell phone company buys the land and right-of-way to it. There's no rent and I'm sure this cheap chiselling company wouldn't be paying that much a month. I'm within 10 miles of 4 cell phone towers and can't get reception at home. Useless.  >:(
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

GHRoberts

So how many of you guys that are against towers have cell phones?

I have a cell phone and complain there are not enough towers.

DanG

I'm a cell phone user, and I'm not against towers.  I just think they could be located in less invasive places.  I'm against people who would rent their land to a cell company without consideration of their neighbors.

Having had considerable experience with the techical side of wireless phones, I'd like to add that it doesn't HAVE to be this way.  We have the technology to place numerous smaller antennae on lower platforms.  I think the day is coming when all we'll see is a little wire sticking out of a fencepost every mile or so.
"I don't feel like an old man.  I feel like a young man who has something wrong with him."  Dick Cavett
"Beat not thy sword into a plowshare, rather beat the sword of thine enemy into a plowshare."

caryr

Quote from: DanG on August 06, 2005, 11:32:55 AM
We have the technology to place numerous smaller antennae on lower platforms.
You are correct Dan, but there are a number of sides to the pico/small cell problem and economics is one of the biggies holding this up just like it did E911. As you probably know, infrastructure is expensive and every cell tower requires it. Maybe if/as WiMax becomes more pervasive we can use it as the data backbone which would make siting much easier since power is easier to find than a high speed data pipe. Like I said earlier, I expect to see more and more towers, but they will likely not be the behemoths we see today.

Cary

Furby

They are using a lot of the smaller antennaes around here, one popular placing is on existing high tension power line towers.
I'm also not so sure I agree with you neighbor friendly statement DanG.
As you know, they can't just put a tower anyplace, and there is little use in putting one in the middle of nowhere where "neighbors" won't be bothered. The towers need to be in a grid type fashion, near PEOPLE......... the users.
Also don't like the idea of the neighbors or other powers that be having the power to say what I can and can not do with my property.
Yeah, I know they do anyways, but no need to give them any more power!

old3dogg

I was forced to have a main sewer and water line run through my back yard to make things better for those that live around me. The only thing I got from the deal was higher water and sewer rates!? ???
If a cell phone company wants to pay me to put a tower on my land I say screw those around me and show me the money! Dont like the tower then look the other way. Its my land. I work darn hard to pay for it. Dont like the way it looks? Then MOVE!

DanG

Yeah, Furby, I know my position seems to run counter to the popular sentiment here.  It depends on who was there first, in my way of thinking.  You have put a lot of work into restoring that old house, for instance.  How would you feel if your next door neighbor decided to lease out his lot to a pig farmer?  Now on the other hand, if you were a pig farmer, should you have to shut down because someone new moved in next door?
"I don't feel like an old man.  I feel like a young man who has something wrong with him."  Dick Cavett
"Beat not thy sword into a plowshare, rather beat the sword of thine enemy into a plowshare."

Furby

I know what you are saying, and it is happening here left and right.
While I may not live in the country, I'm a country boy at heart and wouldn't have a problem with a pig farmer moving in next door.
I'm currently down wind of the local land fill and many farms, yes it would worse next door, but I try not to be one to get into other peoples business.
Around here, the majority of people move on to a different home within 5-10 years, it's simply a stepping stone type thing.
Will the tower affect the value of neighbors property? Maybe, maybe not.
As urban sprawl increases, there are more and more people who are willing to accept "blemishes" such as a local tower.
Having said that, there are still plenty of trouble makers who take great pride in causing trouble for others and trying to control them.


My parents have had their place for several decades, and there are only a handful of home owners that have been on the street longer.
Two houses down there are some people that made a fair amount of their living buying cars at auctions and fixing them up for resale.
The house across the street from them went up for sale due to the owners death, and could not be sold due to it's condition and asking price. Rather then blame the condition of the forsale, the agent called the township to complain about the house across the street and the cars. Now they did have a few cars and some scattered parts that would sit around for a bit before being taken care of, but it really wasn't bad. Township came in and told them to clean it up as well as going down the street issuing other clean up notices. My parents got one for the cars in the yard.
Guess what, the house still didn't sell after all the cleaning up in the neighborhood. They were forced into dropping the price to closer match the real value, and the house is now owned by someone who has for the better part of time that they have had it........kept the yard worse then those who were issued clean up notices. ::)

Murf

When they first started rushing to put in cell towers there were some big problems up here.

One of them resulted in the Kennuck guberment making very strict regulations, amongst the things that they all but insisted on was the cell phone company owning the land the tower sat on.

At first private companies were building towers and leasing them to cell companies, then one of them went bust, a whole bunch of farmers ended up with rubber rent cheques and a big land-tax bill and liability issue for a big expensive tower that wasn't really theirs. They also had a problem with the electric people looking for payment from the farmer who owned the land.

Some of them got in a real stick over it.

Those ding-a-lings at Bell came along and bought up a bunch of them, the competition bought what was left, but it was a first class messed up for a while till it got sorted.
If you're going to break a law..... make sure it's Murphy's Law.

pigman

Quote from: DanG on August 07, 2005, 09:39:45 AM
How would you feel if your next door neighbor decided to lease out his lot to a pig farmer?  Now on the other hand, if you were a pig farmer, should you have to shut down because someone new moved in next door?
Just saw on the news the other day  where a landowner in a nearby county put in 100 pigs to spite his neighbors.  The whole story was that the owner wanted to sell his land for development and retire. The neighbors and govment wouldn't let him because his land was zoned agriculture. The surounding  land was already developed was the reason he wanted to develop his land. He said  his land was not a "park" for the neighbors. He knows after the pigs are there for a spell the govment will change the zoning on his land.  ;D ;)
Things turn out best for people who make the best of how things turn out.

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