Tower of power

The woman who led the successful effort in early 2005 to stop the Chico Area Recreation District from attaching wireless towers to the Hooker Oak Recreation Area light standards is back in the fray this week, alerting people that the city Planning Commission is about to consider a use permit for an even larger tower in the area.

In a letter sent to local media, Karen Kite calls attention to a proposed 125-foot cell phone tower that members of the Elks Lodge want to put at the rear of their property at Manzanita and East Avenue, next to a softball field. Citing the dangers of radiation, especially to children, she notes that it will be 350 feet from a mobile-home park, closer than the 500-foot distance called for by city ordinance.

Rick Fortier, speaking for the Elks, said he wasn’t sure about the distance but did note that the tower would be disguised so as not to be visually intrusive. He pointed out that the Hooker Oak area was known as a hole in cell phone coverage, adding: “I couldn’t see them putting one in Bidwell Park.”

The Planning Commission meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. tonight (April 20) in the City Council Chambers.