Cell tower site issue remains unresolved

The tentative rural site for the location of the Mericom/Sprint PCS communications tower, scheduled for placement in Sisters, may have to be changed.

At the last Sisters city council meeting on September 14, councilors reported positively on their visit to view that proposed site. Sisters City Planner Neil Thompson and the councilors agreed that a 140 -foot high trial balloon was adequately camouflaged at the heavily wooded, 160-acre Section 9 site.

The acreage lately was purchased from the US Forest Service by the city and is currently under construction for the siting of the city's sewer treatment facility.

Recently, however, the new owners of the 1,300 acre Lazy Z ranch wrote a letter to Thompson stating concerns with the Section 9 proposed siting. Lazy Z owner David Herman, himself a 15-year veteran of the communication site business, wrote "For the protection of the Lazy Z Ranch and the general good of the community...we (shall) commit considerable time and resources to opposing this development..."

On Friday, September 22, City Administrator Barbara Warren said that the proposed site is in jeopardy.

"It looks like we are not going to be able to place the tower at the Section 9 location," she said.

"The development agreement we're in the process of signing with Deschutes County states that only a sewer plant can be located there--and nothing else."

However, Sisters Mayor Steve Wilson said that the other location the board informally considered earlier, behind Multnomah Publishers' offices on Adams Street, "has already been studied--and rejected by the council."

According to Wilson, "We (the council) were concerned with the view impact that a 65- to 85-foot pole would have from that downtown location--we think it would be fairly apparent from several places--such as Conklin's Guest House, for example."

For perspective, the communications/flag pole currently outside city hall is approximately 65 feet tall.

The Adams Street site is also owned by the city. Several weeks ago, the Sisters Urban Planning Commission, chaired by Dayton Hyde, unsuccessfully recommended it to the council as the best site for the tower.

The five-member council next meets at 7 p.m., Thursday, September 28, at city hall.