Information about a T-Mobile cell tower in Sunnyside

Latest entry - October 2006

When we emailed Kim Nguyen (Project Manager for the T-Mobile cell tower in Sunnyside) for an October update, we received this message from her: "This project has been moved to TMO's 2007 build so progress has been slowed and we're still in the process of validating possible candidates." We plan to contact her again in the new year to see if they can provide more details about their schedule. It is on hold for now, and we will post more information when it becomes available.

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Prior Entries:
(4/19/06):

The SUNI Cell Tower Location Committee met with T-Mobile on March 29th to discuss tower placement locations. At this point, T-Mobile is evaluating 46th and Tejon properties, and they will inform us as soon as they determine whether it will be a potential location. If any property becomes a potential location, all residents and businesses within 100m will be informed and another community meeting will be held.

We also met with Councilwoman Judy Montero and Councilman Rick Garcia to recommend an initiative for dealing with wireless carriers targeting Sunnyside and the larger community of Northwest Denver for cell tower placement. Montero and Garcia are supportive of being pro-active and developing a 'Northwest Denver Telecommunications Installations Plan' that includes mapping existing towers and antennas in Northwest Denver, developing design standards for future towers in terms of neighborhood character, educating business property owners and residents about cell towers, and developing a plan for tower co-location and/or limiting the number of towers in this area. Please contact us if you would like to be a part of developing this Plan. We will be determining a meeting schedule in the near future.

Krista Robinson and Alan Jones
movethetower@hotmail.com

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At this point, the question is not if T-Mobile will place a cell tower in Sunnyside, but where. Federal law allows telecommunication companies to place cell towers in any neighborhoods where they have a gap in service. While we cannot block this progress, we can have input into where the tower is located. It was originally proposed for the intersection of 44th Avenue and Zuni Streets, which met with strong opposition at the SUNI community meeting on March 8th. Many people feel that regardless of the design, the placement of a T-Mobile tower at that corner would drastically change and degrade the character of our neighborhood center and community business district. Currently, our Cell Tower Location Committee (formed at the March 8th meeting) is working with T-Mobile to evaluate and propose alternative sites that are less dense with residences and businesses immediately adjacent to the tower site. Our Committee has looked at Chaffee Park (we are still in discussion with City Officials if this is possible), the corner of 46th and Tejon, and the light industrial complexes along 46th Street just East of Pecos. We are also requesting that if any of the recommended alternative sites become potential sites, T-Mobile will notify all residents and commercial business owners within 100m from the tower location and meet again with the neighborhood to review T-Mobile’s plans.

Krista Robinson and Alan Jones
Co-chairs, Cell Tower Location Committee
movethetower@hotmail.com


Here is a link to the FCC site regarding wireless communications.