The Archuleta County Planning Commission and Pagosa Lakes Property Owners Association (PLPOA) in Pagosa Springs, CO, are embattled in a debate over a decision to allow Verizon Wireless to install a tower, faux wood equipment shelter and roadway in the Lake Forest Neighborhood, according to the Pagosa Daily Post.
The first of what seems to be many commission meetings and public hearings was held yesterday to decide if the area will be rezoned to allow the tower. Plans are for the PLPOA to enter into a five-year lease with Verizon, with money received to increase 10 percent with each renewal. Additionally, the tower is planned to be disguised as an 80-foot ponderosa pine tree. Archuleta County Planning Manager John Shepard said the tower will be 70 feet and in a parcel defined as “Lake Forest Open Space.”
Several residents have submitted letters in opposition to the placement of the tower. PLPOA resident Janet Freudenberger. She asked in her letter that other locations be considered and that the rezoning not be granted. “This open space was included in the Planned Unit Development and Common Interest Community for recreational enjoyment for all members and their guests. We do not feel that this type of use for this property is appropriate in any way,” she wrote. Freudenberger cited aesthetic and health issues as reasons that she did not want the tower close to residences.
Jason Nichols and Diana Luppi, two of the organizers with the Pagosa Power group, said placing a tower on PLPOA-owned “open space” would be a “beneficial concept.” They cited too many dropped calls in the area, as well as financial benefits to the association, with an estimated $400,000 over a 25-year course of a lease, or about $16,000 a year, according to the Pagosa Daily Post.
Both sides are divided on residents who want to keep their mountain community just that, a rural mountain community, and those who want to keep up with technological demands of the times such as better cell and WiFi service.
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