T-Mobile to erect tower in an area where citizens worry about negative visual and health impact

Everyone wants a cellphone but not everyone wants towers that send and receive signals anywhere near them. That's the problem La Plata County found itself with when T-Mobile decided to build a tower there.

Some activist groups and citizens fear that network infrastructure poses health risks. This is what happened when communication towers builder Fidelity Towers expressed the intention to construct a 150-foot monopole to house T-Mobile equipment in the Forest Lakes division.

During a 90-minute meeting on October 15, citizens opposed the idea, claiming the tower would cause visual pollution. Additionally, they also talked about health concerns, though the evidence presented was not convincing enough. Besides, federal law doesn't allow commissioners to take health impacts into account when making such decisions.

What may have helped to swing the decision in T-Mobile's favor was a last-minute claim that lack of service could be costing lives. The claim was born out of a 2023 conversation between a company employee and Upper Pine River Fire Protection District Chief Bruce Evans in which they talked about an accidental death that may have been avoided had wireless coverage been available to contact emergency responders right away.

That said, Evans said that it might be a stretch to say a cell tower in the proposed location would have altered the outcome of the emergency.

Citizens residing in the vicinity of the proposed site have been rallying against it for eight months. Interestingly, they aren't opposed to having cell service in the area. Instead, they just want the location to be shifted.