Verizon and Crested Butte agree to cell tower lease

BOZAR still considering proposal

By Mark Reaman

The Crested Butte Town Council agreed to enter into a lease with Verizon to place a cell tower in the northeast part of town. The new 60-foot tower will replace a 40-foot tower already located in the town’s Public Works Yard and should be turned on by next summer.

The new agreement replaces the current lease Verizon has with the Gunnison Watershed School District to locate a tower on the roof of the Crested Butte Community School. When citizens discovered that the lease with the school district had been signed a year ago, there was a major public outcry. A similar outcry occurred in Gunnison but to no avail, and a cell tower is now operating on the Gunnison high school campus.

But the Crested Butte Town Council had more time to react and agreed to let Verizon engineers look at several alternative locations. The Public Works Yard offered the best coverage.

Mayor Jim Schmidt asked at the August 17 meeting why the tower was so tall “and so ugly. It looks like a 1912 oil derrick.” He also wanted to know if emissions would impact neighbors or workers in the vicinity.

Verizon location consultant Colleen Nebel said the 60-foot tower would replace the current 40-foot-tall tower. She said the extra height would allow space for another potential carrier to use in the future. The standard lattice design is similar to the current tower but Nebel said Verizon would be open to other design possibilities. They even have towers that look like pine trees.

As for cell tower emission safety concerns, Nebel said the FCC has analyzed that emissions are 1,000 times less than the FCC limit for safe exposure.

“This will add capacity for more wireless service in Crested Butte,” Nebel said. “The 4G will allow more users to access the internet at once. Many areas, especially neighborhoods around downtown Crested Butte, will see improved service.”

Schmidt and council member Chris Haver both suggested the company show more than one design concept for the tower to the Board of Zoning and Architectural Review (BOZAR), which still must approve the placement. BOZAR continued the discussion to the September meeting. According to Crested Butte assistant design review coordinator Jessie Earley, the board asked for some additional vantage points from the south and looking east from Elk Avenue at the August meeting. She said Nebel and Brian Eicens who are the representatives for Verizon are providing these with the lattice tower and the mono-pole options.  

The lease term is five years with four automatic five-year renewals, with an annual lease rate of $15,000. With no public comment, the council unanimously approved the lease.