Cell tower ‘zonk’

eagle editorial
Published: June 19, 2008

Madison County citizens got “zonked” earlier this month. “Zonk” is a nickname popularized on the old “Let’s Make a Deal,” a 1960s and 1970s TV game show. The show’s contestants, vying for a fancy, new car or refrigerator, would have to blindly choose from what was behind curtain No. 1, 2 or 3. If they made a wrong choice they’d get “zonked,” or win some sort of outlandish stunt prize, like a mean mule or year’s supply of stale Cheetos.

Madison’s “zonk” consisted of county officials accepting proposals for two new cell phone towers that many say are taller than necessary and that lack camouflage. Only Planning Commissioner Jackie Eisenburg and Supervisor Bob Miller voted against the towers as proposed.

County officials are set to rule on what appears to be a similar cell tower proposal at next month’s joint planning commission-supervisors meeting. There will undoubtedly be more such proposals in the future.

We’re not anti-cell phone towers per se. The need for reliable, widespread cell phone service is a fact of modern-day life, even in rural Madison County. But there are numerous paths to take in satisfying this need – more than the quick-and-easy one of accepting short-sighted proposals touted by slick-talking “Monty Halls.”

Why not require using more camouflage in erecting these unsightly structures? Many communities successfully disguise them as trees and plant fast-growing real trees around them. Why not make new Madison ones look like, say, an eastern white pine, a beautiful tree native to this area, and plant real versions of the tree around them? Adjacent equipment enclosures could be concealed in faux granite boulders.

There are many other alternatives as well. They could be placed atop silos, in church steeples or made into clock towers or other visually pleasing structures. Several smaller ones can be linked to do the work of giant monster ones.

True, there is added cost in making these design enhancements. But what about the cost of not doing it? Madison County’s rich, natural scenic beauty, its mountain ridges, its trout streams, are what gives deep and meaningful value to living here. Cell towers, if too tall and too bare, threaten to rob Madison of its most prized asset – its picturesque landscape.

County officials need to more carefully consider what’s at stake here. They should move full-speed ahead to craft a telecommunications ordinance – a more thoughtful way to decide – from a policy standpoint — just what is needed. This would be fairer not just for the Madison citizens seeking to preserve its beauty, but for cell tower providers, who would have a clearer sense of what is expected of them.

Louisa County and others that have crafted such ordinances, have been mentioned as models to look at.

Formulating, and then following, such a guide, would dodge that inevitable “zonk” behind door No. 3.