The Village of Suttons Bay Planning Commission last week reviewed a site plan presented by representatives of the cellular phone company Alltel Communications Inc., which hopes to erect a 150-foot telecommunications tower near the north end of the football field on the Suttons Bay Public Schools campus.

Zoning administrator Steve Patmore reported that village planners found the monopole tower "compatible" with other land uses the vicinity. Village zoning does not specifically allow such towers in the school’s zoning district. Telecommunications towers are specifically allowed, however, in the village’s warehouse/industrial district – an area mostly along Eckerle Road near the Road Commission building.

Patmore explained that to receive a special land use permit to erect a tower on the school campus, the telecommunications company will need to provide engineer’s drawings depicting a potential "fall zone" for the tower in the unlikely event it collapses. In addition, the applicant must provide additional screening between the tower area and adjacent residential areas, and must ensure that lighting on a small outbuilding near the tower is properly shielded.

Because the tower is less than 200 feet tall and is not near normal flight paths, the Federal Aviation Administration will not require that the tower itself be illuminated, Patmore said.

Suttons Bay Public Schools superintendent Mike Murray was present at the Feb. 13 planning commission meeting, Patmore reported. Although the school district is not applying for the special land use permit and is playing no role in Alltel’s project, the school may use the tower to support a radio communications system for school buses, and may seek to mount hardware on the tower that would provide wireless Internet service on the public school campus, Patmore said.

Patmore noted that the developer of the nearby Thorntree Commons housing project, David Bahle, had expressed some concerns about the proposed tower, but planners agreed that vegetation would obscure a view of the tower from most locations in the development, depending on the time of year.

The next step for Alltel will be to seek a ruling from the village Zoning Board of Appeals to clarify zoning ordinance language that may present an obstacle to their plans, Patmore said. A provision of the zoning ordinance defining "building height" imposes a limit of 35 feet for "structures." Although a tower is clearly a "structure," the ZBA will need to clarify whether the zoning ordinance provision regarding "building height" applies to towers as well as buildings.

Patmore said Alltel utilizes telecommunications towers in Peshawbestown to the north and off Revold Road in Bingham Township to the south, leaving a weakness in cell phone coverage in the Suttons Bay area. Altell engineeers presented "propagation maps" indicating that cell phone coverage would improve substantially in the Suttons Bay area if the tower is constructed and placed in service.

Several months ago, Alltel officials asserted that they did not need to seek zoning approval from the village because the tower would be located on public school property. However, village officials informed Alltel that, because providing cellular phone services is not a function of public schools, the company would need to go through the local zoning process.