Lake Elmo council rejects cell phone tower near lake

Nature's appeal scored a narrow victory over technological necessity in Lake Elmo on Tuesday night when its City Council voted 3-2 against a 125-foot cell phone tower that T-Mobile proposed to build near a city park and a cluster of lakefront houses.

After nearly two hours of discussion and days of tension, Council Member Brett Emmons cast the deciding vote against the project because, he said, the company hadn't proved it couldn't find a site that would be less intrusive to residents and people enjoying the nearby park and Lake Jane.

"I had doubts about it being in the right place," Emmons said, adding that he understands T-Mobil's need to improve service and consumers' need for greater cell phone bandwidth that allows them greater flexibility with their phones.

Emmons also pointed out that despite the no vote, the council remains open to proposals from T-Mobile. The council also decided to rewrite and update its 10-year-old cell phone tower ordinance in the coming months.

Lake Elmo residents who live near Lake Jane are able to use their cell phones, but the signal is often weak for T-Mobile customers as well as for customers of other carriers, said Craig Dawson, city manager.

Lake Elmo Mayor Dean Johnston, who strongly supports the tower's construction, said the complaints over the damage to the aesthetics of a neighborhood are unfounded.

"That neighborhood has above-ground utilities, high voltage power lines and so a single, unlighted tower would not detract from that neighborhood," Johnston said. "I live in that neighborhood."

Johnston said he's uncertain what will happen next. "If they [T-Mobile] were to sue us, we would lose," he said. "If I were to summarize our action last night [Tuesday], I would say it was a bad decision. But democracy is messy."

Moreover, he said, 28 percent of Lake Elmo's population doesn't have a home land line. "Cell phones have become a necessity and people can't get service in that neighborhood."

Other metro area communities have faced similar struggles over where to place communications towers. In Champlin, the City Council rejected a proposal two years ago by T-Mobile to build a 100-foot cell-phone tower in a park. Last year, Afton officials adopted an ordinance allowing construction of an 88-foot public safety tower. The tower was made to look like a pine tree.

A spokesman for T-Mobile could not be reached.