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Cell phones' towers use camouflage(Sacramento Bee, The (CA) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Jun. 4--When it comes to camouflaging cell phone towers, those diseased-looking fake firs could soon become an endangered species. With cell sites proliferating to meet the insatiable appetite of mobile phone users, wireless companies are devising elaborate -- and sometimes expensive -- ways to defuse community opposition to unsightly metal towers. They're hiding them in flag poles, church bell towers, fake palm trees and even faux-stone chimneys. "As we grow in residential areas, we have to get creative," said Peter Maushardt, real estate manager for Verizon Wireless in Northern California. "Now 60 percent or more of what we do has to have some type of camouflage. ... You want to locate the site like you're living in the neighborhood." That's no more apparent than at Fair Oaks Nursery in Carmichael, where two stone chimneys enhance the Tuscany-style exterior. Unbeknownst to most passersby, the chimneys actually are made of fiberglass designed to conceal separate antennas owned by Verizon and Sprint Nextel. "Nobody has a clue that those are cell towers," said Debbie Woodruff, the nursery's owner. "People think the chimneys are gorgeous and we get millions of compliments on them." Indeed, standing in the nursery parking lot recently, neighborhood resident Amanda Patterson said that while she knew the chimneys weren't real (why would a nursery have two fireplaces?), she had no idea they hid cell phone antennas. "It's an excellent way to conceal them," said Patterson, adding that she would have opposed a traditional cell phone tower in the neighborhood. "It's a very clever idea." The "can't see me now" strategy comes as cell phone sites are sprouting at a rapid pace. Research by Merrill Lynch estimates that the nation's five largest wireless carriers will operate more than 207,000 by 2008. That's up from 146,000 two years ago. Statistics on how many so-called "stealth" towers are built every year are elusive, but the number is growing nationwide. Larry McKinney,sales director for Oregon-based stealth tower builder Hi-Tech Composite Structures Inc., said his company built 98 stealth sites in 2004 and 180 in 2005 -- primarily in California, Oregon and Washington. One that his company installed locally for Cingular Wireless last year hides an antenna in a cupola at the Folsom Premium Outlets mall. A traditional cell phone site typically costs about $250,000, including all necessary electronics. But the cost of camouflaged towers varies from site to site. The cupola at the Folsom outlet mall, for instance, cost about $16,000, McKinney said. But a 50-foot tower designed to look like a pine tree can run between $40,000 and $50,000, depending on the density of its "foliage" and whether the pole gets a bark-like wrap. "The same pole without the camouflage would be $15,000 to $20,000," McKinney said. Those higher costs are attributed to a variety of factors, said Delmar Tompkins, cell site acquisition manager for Cingular in the Sacramento area. A tower that looks like a tree, for instance, needs beefier construction because it's heavier and catches more wind than a standard tower, he said. Camouflaged towers also require special materials that can withstand the elements and still retain a natural look. Indeed, such towers have come a long way from a decade ago when huge poles dominated the skyline and prompted heated protests from neighbors. "I remember one of the first major towers was at Madison Avenue and Interstate 80," said Pat Watters, a zoning administrator for the Sacramento County Planning and Community Development Department. "It was 150 feet high and when you were driving down the freeway you could see it for miles. It created a tremendous outcry." Now, Watters said, most of the 25 to 30 requests his department receives annually for new towers are more modest. He said municipal planners almost always urge cell phone companies to locate antennas on existing towers, rather than build new ones. "In the past few years, the companies have wised up and are coming in with alternative designs," said Chris Cochrane, president of the South Land Park Neighborhood Association, which keeps a close watch on such issues. If locating them on existing towers isn't feasible, cell phone companies often come up with designs that, if not perfectly camouflaged, at least don't call attention to themselves. The newest fake firs, for instance, are often more realistic looking and placed within existing stands of trees, better blending in with their surroundings. A cell phone tower on an alley near Broadway and 16th Street in Sacramento looks like any other telephone pole, said Thomas Pace, a senior planner with the City of Sacramento. Months after it was installed, Pace said he got a call from a neighborhood activist wanting to know if the pole had been built yet. "It's painted brown to look just like a telephone pole," he said. "It blends right in." Such designs have significantly reduced community opposition to new towers, Pace said. In some cases, neighborhoods are even asking for towers -- though not necessarily in the heart of their communities. In the affluent El Macero development near Davis, residents are lobbying Cingular to install antennas just outside the golf course community's southern boundary. "Cell phone service is pretty bad here," said Bill Dendy, an El Macero resident who also advises Yolo County supervisors on neighborhood issues. "You see people standing in their driveways trying to use their cell phones." Dendy said he expects virtually no community opposition if the tower is well hidden. "The proposal is to put it among some grain silos so it won't be that noticeable," he said. In addition to construction costs, cellular companies also continue to shell out significant lease payments to install their towers on private property. At Fair Oaks Nursery, Woodruff said she receives about $2,000 a month each from Verizon and Sprint Nextel for their antennas on her building. "That helped us get through the rainy spring," she said. At Parkside Community Church on South Land Park Drive in Sacramento, Cingular built a 59-foot bell tower to hide its antennas and gives the church $1,200 a month in lease payments. Parkside's pastor, the Rev. Susan Hamilton, said doubling the height of the church's original 30-foot structure met some early resistance from city planners and skepticism from some neighbors, but wasn't a tough sell to the congregation. It increased visibility of the modest church building, which is set well back from the street, she said. And the lease payments go toward expanding the church's sanctuary and help pay for a mission project. "It's been a positive experience; we're very pleased," Hamilton said. So pleased, in fact, she said the church's tower could go higher. To accommodate additional antennas -- this time from Verizon Wireless - Parkside is discussing raising the bell tower an additional 15 feet. A cellular antenna built for Cingular Wireless last year is hidden in a cupola at the Folsom Premium Outlets mall. The cupola camouflage cost about $16,000, said the company that made it. Sacramento Bee/Andy Alfaro |