Here’s why Fresno shouldn’t let Verizon ‘plant’ a cell tower tree next to busy freeway
If Verizon and city planners get their way, downtown Fresno’s most visible tree won’t be a tree at all.
Rather, it’ll be an 80-foot-tall “monopine” cell tower outfitted with nine panel antennas and 12 radio units thinly disguised to resemble a Ponderosa pine. Sitting right next to an elevated section of Highway 41 and in full view of every driver and passenger traveling past.
“Traffic southbound will feel like they can reach out and touch the tree,” downtown resident Larry Taylor informed me via email. “There’s no hiding the equipment from that close distance.”
Because Taylor and his wife own property within 1,000 feet of the proposed project, late last week they and other Huntington Park Village Condos residents received official notice of the special permit request filed on behalf of Verizon Wireless. Friday is the deadline to submit comments and concerns.
Totems of 21st century technology and fakery, cell tower trees have sprung up all over Fresno and the central San Joaquin Valley in recent years. And while there’s merit to having the metal pole and antennas masked by fake foliage shaped and painted to resemble a tree, no one is being fooled.
Opinion
Cell tower trees work best when viewed at a distance — not a few yards from a busy freeway.
“The proposed cell tower would be disguised as a pine tree to blend into the surrounding area,” read the neighborhood notification received by Taylor from Jennifer Clark, director of the city’s Planning and Development Department.
Now that’s a laugh. While a few trees of comparable height, real ones, do line 41 nearby, none stand next to the proposed cell tower.
This phony conifer will stick out and fool nobody.
“It would be an ugly addition to our downtown skyline,” Taylor said.
Verizon, of course, would get to place its antennas (both panel and microwave) at or near the top of the 80-foot-tall camouflage. Elevation renderings filed with the city also show room for future antennas, presumably leased by other wireless providers, at 53 feet. Bringing them even closer to the eye level of motorists on the elevated freeway.
Land zoned for apartments
Downtown Fresno’s most visible fake tree would be planted on .55 acres at 640 R St. The property is owned by Harry and Ruth Moore, according to the company-submitted site plan, and is currently zoned downtown neighborhood/apartment house. It would sit nearly right across R Street from Bitwise 41 and a block from the recently opened Bitwise Industries renovation of the State Center Warehouse.
At street level, an 8-foot, 8-inch tall building (with anti-graffiti paint) would house the “monopine” and all its necessary infrastructure. Both are to be enclosed within a 7-foot tall barbed wire fence, which should really add to the neighborhood’s charm.
“It junks up the area both in sight of the freeway and our two-story condos,” Taylor said.
Look, I get that Fresno is woefully short of 5G tech compared to more populated regions of California. And that means more wireless cell towers so that everyone can download their Tiktok videos faster.
But do we really have to erect one in full view of one of the city’s busiest sections of freeway? Is this really the only available spot?
Verizon (and apparently city planners) might not care about adding to the visual blight of downtown, but the rest of us should.
