City panel will tackle cell-phone towers

The Cape Girardeau City Council was right to put the brakes -- at least for now -- on a cell-phone tower on Broadway.

Yes, there's one already there, and Sprint wanted merely to add height. A representative said the company needs the tower to be taller so it can support the cellular-service antenna and pick up an unexpected overabundance of calls.

And yes, there might be a temporary inconvenience to Sprint customers for a time, or so the representative fears.

However, now is the best time to begin doing the right thing.

It's not that the towers weren't being regulated at all in Cape Girardeau, but the process leaned toward being haphazard. The towers were being approved one at a time with special-use permits. Last month, the city's planning department couldn't provide an exact list or map with every cell-phone tower on it.

As with any other special-use permit, neighbors adjoining the proposed site were notified of the development and invited to meetings concerning it. The requests followed this pattern: The planning and zoning commission either supported or opposed the permit, the issue went to the city council, and there it was accepted or rejected.

But these aren't like other special-use permits, which may affect only nearby landowners.

Arguably, every resident of Cape Girardeau has a stake in the city's landscape, and these towers loom over it.

Cell phones aren't going away. Local companies say the penetration in the Cape Girardeau County market is around 22 percent, and that number is expected to rise dramatically.

Consumers don't want to give up their cell phones, which for many have become a technological advance on par with television sets and CD players. They want clear service for their business and personal calls. Certainly, companies have the right to provide that service and make money doing so.

The solution? Just what the city council is doing.

They want an already established subcommittee of the planning and zoning commission to move rapidly on a set of regulations that will guide the construction of cell-phone towers in the future.

The subcommittee should develop a map, decide where it would be appropriate to build future towers and suggest an ordinance that is clear and enforceable. It should include encouragement for companies to share towers, as many already do, without price gouging for space.

Only then can the citizens of Cape Girardeau be sure that their love for cell phones isn't diminished by a horizon full of towers.