Despite concerns voiced by some residents regarding the impact to local viewsheds, the Green River City Council voted to allow Union Wireless to build an 80-foot lattice-style cell tower in a small, vacant lot near Ace Hardware and the Green River Post Office.
The vote was not unanimous as Councilman Jim Zimmerman and Mayor Pete Rust voted against the proposal. Zimmerman, who lives near the site proposed by Union Wireless, said neighbors he talked to during his evening walks were in opposition to the tower, citing disapproval with how the tower would raise over the trees and buildings in the neighborhood. A former telecommunications worker, Zimmerman also believes voting the tower down would not kill Union Wireless’ interest in Green River.
“They’re going to engineer around it or they’re going to be left behind by the Verizons and the AT&Ts,” Zimmerman said.
The other Council representative for Ward 1, Sherry Bushman, had different views.
She said she conducted a poll through her Facebook pages to determine interest in the cell tower proposal, saying 95% of the respondents said they were in favor -- though she did not mention the exact number of people who responded. She also asked Green River Police Chief Tom Jarvie to speak about FirstNet, the AT&T first responders network equipment that would be colocated on the tower with Union Wireless.
Jarvie, who also serves as the chairman of the Sweetwater Combined Communications Joint Powers Board, said it would help provide redundant communications service for first responders in a disaster situation. Using an example of a massive vehicle crash on Interstate-80, he said the first thing that happens is everyone begins using their cell phones to contact loved ones or share photos and video of the incident, which right now can bring down the county dispatch center’s ability to communicate with various services. He said First Net would make emergency communication a priority and open the ability for residents to share photos or video with the dispatch center, as well as possibly allowing for realtime observation of a situation through an officer’s body camera.
Aside from the first responder service for the tower, Bushman supports expanded cellular coverage to give better service to remote workers and online students in the city.
Three residents spoke against the proposal.
Dennis Laughlin, owner of Flaming Gorge Harley-Davidson, said he didn’t want to see the tower when he goes to work, calling the tower proposal a “darn ugly idea.”
Andrea Shepard, who had spoken against the tower previously, repeated her comments about not wanting to see the towers built throughout Green River.
“I want to be able to drive down Main Street and not see any more of these things go up,” she said.
Shepard also questioned the health and safety aspect of the tower as she believes 5G cellular equipment, which could be added to the tower at a future time, would produce signals harmful to human health.
The FCC regulates 5G signals and the Green River City Council could not make a determination based on anything related to alleged health concerns. Their only purview in the process is if a proposal fits the aesthetics of the location a cell tower would be built at. A 5G signal is not in the immediate future for Union Wireless customers, according to Tyler Tholl, who works for the company’s site acquisition department. He told the Council the prospect of providing a 5G signal is “quite a long way down the road.” Councilman Gary Killpack, citing research he conducted prior to the meeting, said there is only one 5G tower in Wyoming, which is located near the border between Wyoming and Colorado.
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