MT2 Telecom is going to the Chico Planning Commission tonight to ask for a special use permit to put up a “monopine” tower at West Third and Cedar streets. While the Planning Department is recommending approval for the permit, according to the Enterprise Record, they want the existing defunct town water tank to be considered as well. AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile all still have antennas on the tank owned by Cal Water at Cherry and West Third streets that was declared “not up to California earthquake standards” in 2017. Some locals feel the tanks are historic and should be preserved, prompting a “save the tank” movement.
“We certainly heard the community,” Cal Water district manager George Barber told the Enterprise Record as did district manager Pete Bonacich, who said the utility’s preference would be for a communication company to buy the tanks from Cal Water and then update them.
MT2 engineering manager Salomon Martinez Jr. said they would rather put up the 105 foot monopine, “Our structure is less pronounced than the water tank, which is pretty large.” Martinez added that landscaping efforts, eliminating “weed trees” and adding hedges would improve the space vacated by the water tank.
Barber said Cal Water has not given up on the tank and has yet to submit a demolition permit to the city.
“We’re still evaluating our options,” he said. “We’re asking the engineering firm that did the (earthquake) evaluation to do a deeper dive. We’re trying to get a better handle (on the condition) so that the folks interested in buying them might have more information,” the Enterprise Record reported.
Published June 7, 2018
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