Tower proposal stokes uprising

LAKEWOOD RANCH - Cell phone towers can be a mixed blessing for residential neighborhoods, particularly in East Manatee County where several new towers are proposed.

They bring better cell reception for residents, and the contracts to allow the towers also provide local governing boards a new, non-tax revenue stream.

In the case of the Lakewood Ranch subdivision of Summerfield, where a 150-foot tower is proposed, the deal would give the community $750,000 to spend over the next 30 years.

But the towers have drawbacks for residents who say they mar the neighborhood's skyline, could harm their property values and may even be a hazard for local children.

Summerfield is the latest of a handful of neighborhoods that have rallied against the towers, even though cell reception in some parts of East Manatee is not ideal.

Nearly 700 residents of the community, on Lakewood Ranch Boulevard just south of State Road 70, have signed a petition against the tower. The proposed location is in Summerfield Park in the 6300 block of Lakewood Ranch Boulevard.

In October, Lakewood Ranch Community Development District 1 supervisors offered the tower-building company an alternate location in a wooded area of Heron's Nest Nature Park, hoping the new site would camouflage the tower and quell opposition.

However, supervisors said Thursday that the tower company, Vertex Development, rejected the option and still has its eye on Summerfield Park.

Tim Lane, a member of the newly formed Lakewood Ranch Citizens for Responsible Development, said residents are outraged that the tower may end up in the center of the planned community.

"We pay extra money to live in Lakewood Ranch, so the utilities would be underground," Lane said. "I can't put an antenna up on my house, and they want to put up a 150-foot tower."

Vertex officials could not be reached Thursday.

Lane said the company told him Tuesday it may be looking at adding more towers in other East Manatee locations, such as in the Lakewood Ranch Country Club.

"It looks like they're trying to make an antenna farm out of Lakewood Ranch," Lane said.

Other East Manatee neighborhoods have been fighting the towers.

Areas around centrally located S.R. 70 are hot spots for tower construction, and at least three are expected to be built along the roadway in the next few years.

Among the plans: a 180-foot tower in the Creekwood East Corporate Park adjacent to the Rosedale subdivision; a 150- foot tower camouflaged by a 375-square-foot U.S. flag in River Club, just south of S.R. 70.; and a 200-foot tower in Myakka City on Sugar Bowl Road in the far east end of the county.

Six cell phone towers now serve land owned by developer Schroeder-Manatee Ranch, which includes Lakewood Ranch.

Some meetings about the towers among residents, the tower companies and community officials have gotten hostile.

In January, more than 100 River Club residents protested a tower on the River Club golf course parking lot proposed by Vertex.

In October, about 60 residents against the proposed tower in Summerfield rallied at a town hall meeting. The outrage expressed at the meeting forced supervisors to warn residents that angry outbursts would not be tolerated.

About the same number of people opposed to the Summerfield Park tower attended another meeting on Tuesday at which supervisors asked the company to consider other locations.

Lane said the CDD's request to Vertex to consider other locations is futile because it only creates problems for a new set of residents.

June Stroup, chair of CDD 1, said the board is requesting other locations to satisfy the residents, but would still consider Summerfield Park if the company does not budge.

"Certainly, the money is very attractive," Stroup said of the $750,000 or so the community stands to earn over 30 years.

Lane and other members of the citizen's group plan to meet with residents of the Country Club and Palm-Aire, where residents worry a tower proposal is coming their way.