Story posted Thursday, January 28, 2010
Wheeling Rejects Cell Tower
By a 5–1 vote, the Wheeling Village Board on Tuesday, Jan. 19 rejected a proposed cellular telephone tower for 910 McHenry Rd.
Trustee Ken Brady disagreed with the placement of the tower close to apartment buildings.
"It was more or less decreed that we should try to locate them in industrial areas as much as possible," he said. "Couldn't they get it off of McHenry Road a little farther?"
Mark Janeck, director of community development, explained each pole only reaches a certain radius of coverage. "All the poles cannot be located in industrial areas," he said. "With today's reliance on cell phones, more poles are going to be required to meet the demand."
"I just don't think it's the right place for it," Brady explained.
Tony Phillips, a spokesperson for SAC Wireless, an agent for AT&T, explained that towers need to be close to customers. He explained that more people are giving up their landline phones and relying only on their cellular telephones. Phillips said in an emergency, customers must be able to get signals to their phones.
However, trustees disagreed, voting down the proposal with only President Judy Abruscato supporting the proposal. Trustee Pat Horcher abstained due to a family connection to the business.
The village's Plan Commission is still considering a request for a cellular tower on the property of Wheeling High School. If the commission approves that, the village trustees will have a chance to vote on it at a future meeting.
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