Representatives of T-Mobile showed up at a work session of the Camp Verde Town Council on Wednesday, Aug. 14, making the case to Camp Verde’s elected officials for why the telecom giant is seeking to build a new tower in town.
“We approached the town because T- Mobile has a gap in their service, a problem with our service,” Declan Murphy, a representative for T-Mobile said at the meeting. “This would accommodate not only T-Mobile’s issues, but the site would be designed to accommodate multiple carriers.”
Murphy outlined a potential site for the new tower, at 601 First Street in the downtown, close to Top Shelf Liquors & Archery and the Camp Verde Marshall’s Office. Like many modern cell towers, the proposed structure would be disguised to look like a pine tree.
“That makes it somewhat less intrusive and hides the equipment,” Murphy said.
“Does that differ significantly from some of our native trees?” Council member Bill LeBeau asked Murphy. “Is it going to stick out?” Murphy said that a different design was possible, but that he would have to discuss with others at the company.
Councilman Joe Butner asked if a smaller tower was possible, since the downtown zoning rules usually require buildings shorter than 50 feet. Joe Van Galder of T-Mobile said that doing so might lead to needing a second tower in the future.
The council discussion was just the beginning of the process, and no official decisions were made at the meeting.
“If you say, let’s go ahead and at least entertain it, that’s not saying we’re definitely going to do it,” Town Manager Russ Martin said. He explained to the town that even if the project got the council’s blessing, it would still head to the Planning and Zoning Commission for the normal process before any work begins.
