Cell Tower, Driving Range On Examiner’S Agenda

Thu., June 15, 2000

By Lorie Hutson lorieh@spokesman.com (509) 459-5446

Requests for a cellular phone tower on Pleasant Prairie and a golf driving range fence in Otis Orchards will be heard by the Spokane County hearing examiner next week.

US West Communications has asked for a permit to build a cellular telephone tower at 10001 E. Bigelow Gulch Road. The tower would be built on property owned by Raymond Starling, about a half-mile west of Pleasant Prairie Road.

Spokane County planner Francine Shaw said the tower would look different than other cellular phone towers and more like a traditional utility pole.

“It will be a little bit more sleek and refined,” Shaw said.

The pole will be 100 feet tall, with a single antenna rising another 20 feet. Other cellular towers have a triangular platform base for the antenna.

A public hearing on the request for a permit to build the tower will be held at 9 a.m. on Wednesday in the commissioners assembly room, on the lower level of the Spokane County Public Works Building, 1026 W. Broadway St.

The hearing examiner also will hear a request from Otis Orchards resident Jerome Grant for a variance to build a 60-foot-tall fence at the northeast corner of Trent and Lynden Road to catch stray golf balls. Grant plans to open a driving range and 9-hole public golf course on 28 acres that were alfalfa fields.

Fences and other structures are normally restricted to a maximum height of 35 feet in the area.

Grant, a retired farmer, has already built a metal Quonset hut that will serve as the office for the driving range. The building could also house a restaurant.

Neighbors of the planned course have told county planners they are concerned that vehicles traveling on Lynden Road could be hit by golf balls and agreed with plans for a higher fence. Other said they were concerned the fence would block drivers’ views at the corner.

The public hearing on the request will be held at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday in the commissioners assembly room.

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