The Town Council has approved a special use permit for installation of a faux saguaro cellular tower on Eagle Ridge Drive to serve the Adero Canyon area.

The vote was a unanimous 6-0, with Councilman Alan Magazine absent, and the contractor for Verizon Wireless was urged to move as quickly as possible on the permanent tower as well as installation of a “Cell on Wheels” (COW) temporary antenna.

Town staff and the council have been hearing that cell service in the new subdivision is non-existent and is important to those with home-based business in the neighborhood.

Resident Steve Jacobson said he has been a resident of Adero Canyon for about seven months and the inability to communicate has been frustrating.

“It is not acceptable to have no cell coverage,” Jacobson told the Planning and Zoning Commission. “It should have been there before anyone moved in.”

He told the council, “I implore you to get this done as soon as possible.”

Councilman Dennis Brown, a building contractor, said he has worked in the area and agrees it is an unacceptable situation. He suggested the COW be installed the next day, but was told that still might take several weeks.

Councilman Mike Scharnow asked about other companies sharing the tower. The town had received a letter from Verizon saying there would be no opportunity for others to “co-locate” on this tower.

Senior Planner Marissa Moore said those decisions are up to the owner of the tower.

“The town has no authority to require that,” Moore said.

The proposed facility would be a faux saguaro cactus to be placed in the roadway median adjacent to the sales center building near the CopperWynd Resort.

The tower would be 40 feet tall and would be used instead of a 34-foot simulated historic water tank, which had been previously approved.

Moore explained that the special use permit is required because the plan exceeds the maximum height allowed, as it is located within 300 feet of a residential (multi-family) zoning district. However, it appears there are no plans to develop that site. The nearest residential structure is about 400 feet from the site. It is about 135 feet from an existing building housing a sales center.

The tower would be built approximately 14 feet from the nearest adjacent right of way.

A request by staff for an inventory of existing and proposed cellular facilities within a one-mile radius was complied with and provided to the council.