N.W. Arkansas News - A 199-foot wireless-transmission tower has won city approval to be built on Planer Hill, overlooking historic downtown Eureka Springs.

The tower is nearly three times the height of the 67-foot Christ of the Ozarks statue, one of the city's loftiest tourist attractions.

City officials initially opposed the tower because it was "right at the gateway when you come into the historic district," said Mayor Dani Joy, referring to the intersection of U.S. 62 and Arkansas 23.

But Smith Communications LLC of Fayetteville filed suit in federal court. On the advice of a lawyer from the Arkansas Municipal League, the City Council gave in by a vote of 4-0 in a special meeting Monday, with two aldermen absent.

"I let them know they had an uphill battle," said Rob Beard, a Municipal League lawyer who spoke to the council.

Beard cited U.S. Code Title 74, Section 332, Subsection (c)(7), which states that local governments can't prohibit"the provision of personal wireless services" and that any argument against construction of a cell tower must be supported by "substantial evidence."

The tower is scheduled to be built within the next three months at 5 Judah St. behind Eureka Storage, and near U.S. 62, which is a commercial thoroughfare. That section of the highway is in the city's two-square-mile historic district, which follows the city limits of 1970. It's about a mile from the center of downtown, and pedestrian traffic isn't heavy there.

"You can't see it from the downtown area," said Dave Reynolds, project manager for Smith Communications, "but you can see it when you drive by the hotel."

Reynolds said the location is necessary to provide cell and wireless radio service downtown.

As part of a deal to drop the lawsuit, the city will be allowed to use the tower for its police and fire communications. Leasing that space would have cost about $500 a month, Reynolds said.
Police Chief Earl Hyatt said Eureka Springs has had trouble with radio communications because of the mountainous terrain.

A repeater, or power booster, on top of the 82-year-old Eureka Springs Auditorium currently allows officers downtown to use hand-held radios. Without the repeater, the signal from the 5-watt radios can't reach the police station aboutthree miles away on Passion Play Road. There is a second repeater and a 55-foot-tall antenna at the police station.

Hyatt said the new cell tower could triple the distance of radio communications for emergency personnel.

"I know it's going to be a big improvement over what we have now," said Rhys Williams, Eureka Springs fire chief. "We get outside the city, and we have some dead spots."
Williams said radio fire calls can reach his home near Holiday Island during the winter, but when leaves are on the trees, sometimes it can't.

"When we get the foliage on the trees, you'd be surprised how much that affects the signal," he said.
"Would it help? Absolutely," Mayor Joy said of the new cell tower. "Am I happy about it going right there? No, I'm not."

Smith Communications applied for a conditional-use permit for the tower location on July 1. At the time, the Eureka Springs Historic District Commission didn't have any regulations regarding cell towers but quickly drafted some, adopting a portion of its code from Cape Cod, Mass.

If the cell tower extends above the treetops, it "should be painted in a light gray or light blue hue, which blends with sky and clouds," according to the commission's regulations.  Reynolds said the new tower will be "galvanized gray" in color.

Smith Communications likely will have to go before the Historic District Commission for final approval of the tower, Joy said.

"On the whole, what they're proposing does meet our guidelines," said Glenna Booth, the city's preservation officer.

The Eureka Springs Planning Commission had denied the conditional-use permit on Sept. 10. Smith Communications appealed and on Sept. 25 floated a 6-foot-wide orange balloon on a string 180 feet
into the sky at the site to show aldermen and the public howvisible the tower would be.
"You could see the balloon from the Crescent Hotel," said DeVito, referring to a hotel on West Mountain, the highest elevation in the city, "but you really couldn't see it from downtown. It's very visible from up on [U.S. 62]."

On Sept. 28, the Planning Commission denied the appeal. The lawsuit claimed the denial was in violation of the federal telecommunications act cited above because it lacked any "explanation" or
"substantial evidence."

Reynolds said Smith Communications has a contract with AT&T, but the tower also could support other carriers. Smith Communications will lease space for the tower from James P. and Margie F. Bullock. James Bullock owns the Best Western Eureka Inn. The property on which the tower will sit is zoned "contemporary commercial."