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[Mindy]

Hopland cell tower upgrade approved
By PEIJEAN TSAI/The Daily Journal

http://www.ukiahdailyjournal.com/Stories/0,1413,91~3089~2013635,00.html

Emergency calls to 9-1-1 operators will soon be improved for U.S. Cellular customers.

On Thursday, the county's planning department quickly approved a permit request to add special technology antennas to an existing U.S. Cellular tower three miles southwest of Hopland, moving forward a series of projects the wireless communication company is undertaking to meet new Federal Communications Commission 9-1-1 mandates.

The additions will mount nine 8-foot-tall-by-1-foot-wide antennas to the top of the 150-foot tower located on a county road approximately 1 mile south of Duncan Peak. Tower height would increase by about 3 feet, as the new antennas would be mounted parallel to the existing three panel antennas.

The new antennas utilize the digital technology CDMA, or Code Division Multiple Access, which will help 9-1-1 operators better pinpoint callers, said Heinz Lumpp, a Rancho Cucamonga consultant representing U.S. Cellular for the expansion project.

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"It means if (U.S. Cellular customers) dial 9-1-1, the operators on emergency service can locate them better," Lumpp said.

New FCC requirements mandate that cellular providers install the technology in existing towers by next year.

Lumpp said the existing tower facilities in the county do not meet the new mandates. The tower near Hopland is one of 14 in Mendocino County operated by U.S. Cellular which will undergo the addition of new antennas. In the past few weeks, U.S. Cellular received county approval to update four towers. Each tower will receive similar treatment: nine new CDMA antennas.

Construction had not begun on any of the 14 towers in county limits as of Thursday afternoon.

The county planning department did not receive any letters or correspondence objecting to the new antennas, said Chief Planner Frank Lynch.

No earthmoving or grading was proposed for the project near Hopland, and electrical service exists on the site, a 400-acre agricultural preserve where Verizon Wireless and Edge Wireless also operate. According to a staff report, the new antennas would not have a significant impact on wildlife or produce noise other than during their construction.

At the March 4 county Planning Commission meeting, planners unanimously approved the same modifications to a 60-foot U.S. Cellular tower approximately two miles south of Boonville.

At the same meeting, county planners reviewed a request by Verizon Wireless to build a 125-foot tall wireless communication tower on a 40-acre parcel about 10 miles north of Willits in the Longvale area. That proposal was tabled to a May 6 meeting.