Sprint PCS takes new run at UO cell tower site.

Byline: Greg Bolt The Register-Guard

Sprint PCS is seeking city approval for a 120-foot cell tower on the University of Oregon campus near Hayward Field's west grandstand.

Sprint says it needs the tower to improve cell phone coverage on campus and in the area east of the university. The company tried last year to build a tower on a Villard Street lot owned by Williams Bakery, but the city denied the request.

That site was just a few feet from a 72-unit graduate apartment complex owned by the university. The new site is 600 feet from the nearest off-campus residences on 18th Avenue and about the same distance from the Earl and Walton residence halls north of the track.

"This particular site is designed to basically provide coverage for the campus, and we have a need for it," said Dave Mellin, a Sprint spokesman in Denver. "Younger kids are using cell phones more and more, and I think you're going to see that usage continue to grow."

City planners haven't yet reviewed the entire proposal to determine if it's complete. Once that's done, the city planning director has 45 days to rule on Sprint's site review application and request for a variance from the city's telecommunications facilities standards.

Sprint wants a variance from rules that require cell tower equipment vaults to be located underground when placed on property in the public lands zone. The company wants to put the equipment above ground.

A public hearing isn't required, although people living near the tower will get notification of the application and will have an opportunity to submit written comments. Opponents can appeal the planning director's decision to the city hearings officer and ultimately to the state Land Use Board of Appeals.

East campus neighbors objected to the proposed Villard site, saying a cell tower that mainly serves the university should go on university property.

Mona Linstromberg, who helped fight the Villard tower and other cell transmitters, said she's glad the university is taking responsibility for the issue, but said the Hayward Field site still could have problems.

The spot may be too close to residence halls and the Vivian Olum Child Development Center east of Hayward Field, she said.

She believes the tower should be 1,200 feet from residences or day care centers.

But students seemed unconcerned over the Villard site, and Linstromberg said she's not anxious to fight the tower if campus residents are indifferent.

"If I were a U of O student, I would be very upset," she said. "But if the students don't care and we can't motivate them, then I don't know. I have mixed feelings."

Student government spokeswoman Tara Foster said campus leaders haven't had a chance to review the proposal and haven't yet taken a position on it.

UO President Dave Frohnmayer and the campus planning committee approved plans for the 36-inch diameter monopole, or "slick stick," tower earlier this year. It will include a 1,000-square-foot equipment building at the southwest corner of the track that also will have space for a new Hayward Field ticket booth.

Antennas will be placed inside a canister that will have space for two additional cell phone carriers.

Documents submitted to the city by Sprint say AT&T Wireless is negotiating for the space just below Sprint's antenna, but no one has yet signed up to use the third and lowest antenna position, which would offer more limited signal coverage.

According to documents filed with the company's site review request, the tower will be less noticeable at Hayward because it will tend to blend in with the tall grandstand structures and light poles.

The gray, metal monopole will be self-supporting and extend 60 feet above the west grandstand roof, making it taller and bigger around than the existing light poles around the field.

While reluctant to take on the role of cell site provider, the university last year drew up new policies for telecommunications towers after Sprint's failed effort to place a tower right next to campus.

Campus officials said that if towers must be erected they'd rather have them done in a way that meets university standards than have them pop up in inappropriate spots in adjacent neighborhoods.

Sprint and AT&T worked with the university to identify appropriate sites and rejected five other locations on and off campus, according to the application. Those included 18th Avenue between University and Potter streets, McArthur Court, 21st Avenue and Fairmount Boulevard, the Williams Bakery site and a Verizon tower on Franklin Boulevard that drew neighborhood protests.

Sprint said those sites either didn't offer adequate signal coverage or wouldn't meet city requirements. McArthur Court also presented structural and historic building concerns.

A lease agreement for the Hayward site remains under negotiation.

The single-story equipment building will be in the same style and colors as other university buildings at Hayward Field, using rough-faced cement blocks, brick and a green metal roof. It will be cooled by large air circulation fans rather than by air conditioning.