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Old and new lifestyles clashed in public hearings at the Onalaska Planning Commission meeting Tuesday night.
The Commission denied one request by T-Mobile to install a stealth cell tower in the city but approved the company’s request for a second tower in a different location. The Commission also denied a developer’s request to modify Savannah Village development plans to accommodate twindos.
T-Mobile is seeking a conditional use permit to install two stealth cell towers disguised as flagpoles, a 90-foot tower between two storage buildings located at 10th and Redwood streets and a 120-foot tower at 384 Theater Road on the Rockwood Gardens property.
Alban Hanson, a resident in the area, objected to the tower at 10th and Redwood, citing health concerns and aesthetic reasons.
“It’s not a common ordinary flagpole,” Hanson said. “It’s oversized. It’s not appealing to look at. It will be unsightly.”
U.S. Cellular has a tower very close to the proposed T-Mobile site. It is on the Venture Machine property at Hwy. 53 and Sand Lake Road.
Commission members are concerned that the Venture Machine tower might not be in compliance with its permit conditions.
One of the conditions for the U.S. Cellular tower was that it be able to be able to share the tower with other vendors. Dan Weinus, a representative of T-Mobile said when his company approached U.S. Cellular about co-locating, they found out the U.S. Cellular tower was able to do that.
While Weinus said they would be willing to co-locate on that site, they do not want to because that tower would have to be torn down and rebuilt by U.S. Cellular, and they don’t want to wait on U.S. Cellular for what could be over a year or more.
The commission tabled the request because of residents’ concerns and because it needs more information about the existing tower.
No one spoke in opposition to the proposed tower along Theater Road that would be very visible from Interstate 90. Weinus said they are asking for a 120-foot tower to accommodate other carriers, but would be OK with a 90-foot tower.
Commission members were concerned the FAA will require strobe lights on towers due to the proximity of the airport.
“We don’t put strobe lights on top of our towers,” Weinus said. “If the FAA requires strobe lights, something else will be happening there, not one of our towers.”
With no one objecting, the Commission moved to recommend the Common Council approve the cell tower at 384 Theater Road.
Most of the people were at the meeting to protest plans to have twindos built in their neighborhood of traditional single-family homes in Greens Coulee.
Trillium Design wants to reconfigure its planned development of Savannah Village to replace six homes previously proposed as single-family units with six twin/duplex units. The cited reason for the change was to offer different pricing options to potential buyers. The original plan was approved with 30 single-family homes. The new plan does not change the density, it will still be 30 homes, but six of them will be twindos, or cottages, as Julie Henley, the development’s design coordinator, described them.
Bob Bue, who lives in one of the homes in the development, was the only member of the public, other than Henley, in favor of the proposal. Bue said when he and his neighbor first heard about it, they were concerned they would cheapen the area.
“It would not be what we intended when we made our significant investment,” he said.
However, as he talked with the developers further, they came to realize that the design would not be detrimental and the varying pricing points with duplexes could help get the development completed, which would help them all.
Other area residents were not so generous. LouAnn Pierce-Keane reported she was a descendant of the original land owners and was concerned twindos represented a change from the traditional homes and the effort to preserve green space.
“Please preserve the valuable landscape of Greens Coulee for future generations,” she said.
Numerous residents raised concerns that twindos would decrease their property values.
Ruth Vierling, who lives close to where the new cottages would be built, expressed what all the others seemed to be concerned about.
“I’m afraid they would rent out the units,” she said.
Dave Olson told the Commission he thought it would be a big mistake to allow the duplexes to be built.
“I’m also very worried there will be more multifamily homes and am concerned it will change the character of that valley.”
Commission member Skip Temte was the first member to voice his opinion.
“My feeling is I am a low-life because I live in a house near duplexes and multifamily homes. So I feel insulted.”
Nevertheless, he voted in favor of the change as did Larry Schmitt.
“I assume anyone who owns a house there can rent it out,” Schmitt said. “I don’t think this will have a huge impact on the living conditions in this valley. I don’t understand how the impact can be that drastic.”
The request was denied with 3 no votes and 2 yes votes. Jan Brock, Dan Ferries and Jarrod Holter voted against the change.
“I’m going to vote against this because of the people who purchased early on, and I’m putting myself in their position,” Ferries said.
The recommendation to deny the request goes to the Common Council on July 14 where it could be denied again or approved. Mayor Mike Giese, who abstained from the vote, said it is rare that the Council votes against the recommendation of the Planning Commission.
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Hank wrote on Jun 26, 2009 1:53 PM: