To all - article about hiding cell towers in "fake" farm silos.
January 17, 1999
Farm Silos House Cellular Towers, Helping Them
Blend in With Surroundings
PITTSFORD, N.Y. -- Larry Knickerbocker's favorite place in his
sprawling farmhouse here is the porch. There he can look over the
sloping hillsides onto the fields that he and his brother farm, as their
family has done for five generations before them.
He loves the view not only for what it offers, but for what it does not -- the
images of modern suburban life that have crept onto the landscape most every
place else.
That is why he readily agreed when Sprint, the telephone company, asked if it
could replace one of his empty silos with a fake silo that would conceal a
cellular tower. "The towers can be ugly," he said. "I wouldn't want it out on
one of the fields."
About 60,000 cellular towers are in place across the country, and industry
experts say recent developments in digital technology -- which require shorter
towers placed closer together -- will double that number over the next four
years.
Cellular companies build the vast majority of their towers so they blend into
the urban landscape, on rooftops and water towers, said Jeffrey Nelson, a
spokesman for the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, an
industry organization in Washington.
In the countryside, though, camouflage has been more difficult. Cellular
equipment has been placed inside flagpoles, clock towers and church steeples,
even though such disguises can be quite costly.
Recognizing the problem, the cellular organization recently spent $10,000 to
study the best ways to incorporate cellular towers into historic structures,
including silos.
"This is a necessity, because they see neighbors will fight them," said Alan
Knauf, an environmental lawyer from nearby Rochester who frequently
represents residents in disputes with cellular phone companies. "People have
their life savings invested in their houses, and when someone wants to build a
monstrosity next to it, residents tend to object."
Sprint is one of four cellular phone companies serving upstate New York.
Two more are expected to set up shop in the next 10 years. That could mean
an additional 50 to 100 towers. Of those, perhaps 5 to 10 will be built in silos,
said Ben Campanelli, a consultant in Rochester who helps companies find
locations for towers.
Campanelli estimated that it can cost as much as $150,000 to replace a wood
silo with a concrete one appropriate for cellular transmissions. The wood silos
need to be torn down because the metal used in their construction, nails and
the like, interferes with cellular phone frequencies.
The Rochester area has at least one other cellular tower in a silo, in the town
of Mendon. It was built by Frontier Cellular in 1997.
"We really don't mind it that much," said Anne Martin, whose home is near
the tower. "It's taller than what a silo would normally be, but otherwise, it
looks just like a silo."
Landowners are generally paid $400 or more per month to lease their property
for cellular towers, Campanelli said, adding that the companies can usually
find a taker. But the community may resist.
Last year, Sprint sued the nearby town of Ontario after planners refused to
approve three 150-foot towers in rural setting. Town planners suggested a
compromise, a single 250-foot tower in an industrial area, but the company
rejected the idea.
Judge Michael A. Telesca of U.S. District Court in Rochester ruled in favor of
the town, saying it had the right to exert some control, but Sprint has
appealed.
Cellular companies often win when they take a tower dispute to court,
industry experts said. But companies do not want legal battles any more than
towns do. "No one wants a tower, but everyone wants the service," said Dana
Bell, a Sprint spokesman. "It's in everyone's best interest to use an existing
structure when it's available."
Knickerbocker -- who owns a cellular phone and knows reception can be
spotty -- said he would have refused if he had been asked to put the tower
outside the silo.
He said his main motive in letting Sprint use his land was not the monthly
payments. His silos are empty and have been since his family shifted in 1971
from dairy farming to more lucrative crop farming. His view is intact. His
son, now 3, is growing.
"If he farms the land, he'll be the seventh generation," he said. "I want to keep
it the same for him."
Copyright 1999 The New York Times Company |
