living here who don't want to be like the rest of the country. Maybe we want to be a little better. Maybe we expect the bar to be set a little higher.

This link shows several towers across America-some good some bad.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-01-07/this-is-not-a-tree/?cid=hp:beastoriginalsR2#gallery=1182;page=15

Phallic symbol for PTC.

tii.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=219073

Cell companies claim the existing towers are maxed out. It's on the city books that they can't add towers till that happens.

What hasn't happened, yet, is a posting of the minutes on the city web site, of the Planning Board meeting in Nov., where almost 7 pages of notes from THAT meeting would be available to ALL of us so we could more fully understand issues like this. And why is that?

Almost 2 months have gone by and no minutes are posted for us to see? And yet, all of a sudden, the Planning Comm. AGAIN has this issue before it, when the discussion at the Nov. meeting was that there would be FULL transparency and numerous workshops and full citizen involvement BEFORE this issue came to city for a vote.
What's the hurry here, folks???? Why don't we have access to the previous discussions at the Planning Comm. on record WAY before this comes up again?
Could it be that it isn't the church that wanted this in the first place, but that the CITY APPROACHED THE CHURCH about it on BEHALF of Verizon???? And, who, exactly in the city, was that person??? And what would their motivation be?
Just a few questions you might want answered before you think this isn't such a big deal.

More than 40% of households here in PTC do not have any land line service...and that number increases dramatically every year (the data is available from The Telecommunications Industry Association). People drop Ma Bell because they use their mobile phone exclusively. My family made the switch 10 years ago. Now more than 35% of mobile phone users carry "smart phones" like the Droid, iPhone, etc. which require an always on, high speed wireless data connection. Consumers demand reliable service and as much bandwidth as possible. They want it to work inside and out of their homes. We've traded telephone poles and lines (and their underground counterparts here in PTC) for a wireless pipe. The wireless pipe requires towers...lots of them. When we had too many cars on 74 south for the old 2-lane road, we made it wider. Is it pretty? Not really. Does it make our lives better? You bet. Either quit bitching about the towers or hand in that cell phone.

to be the only and best option(s) available for the CITY, for the RESIDENTS? And how is that? Spell it out for us, will you?

I am interested in the Telecommunications Industry Assoc. statistic of 40% are wireless only. Can you point me to your reference? I have participated in TIA meetings in the past and am very curious as to where this stat originated. Thanks

Out of the 35,000+ citizens of PTC I would be willing to bet that less than 50 could tell us how many and where all the current cell towers are in PTC.

Those that are bitch!n@ about the church entering into an a agreement with PTC and a phone company to have their land rezoned don’t have a clue.

The church is the one that initiated the rezoning request with the city. There’s money to be made with this proposal. Get off your @$$ and look it up.

Those that are bitch!n@ haven’t bothered to look up the details of this proposed plan.

What I can’t figure out is why anyone is bitch!n@ in the first place.

Parts of PTC will get better bandwidth/service if this is allowed to happen.

My question to the naysayers is; what’s your problem?

As for the city rezoning some park/open space to accommodate a tower, the city makes money from it; somewhere around $3,000/year. That’s $3,000/year with NO city support services incurred. Hell, based on that type of revenue we should let the phone companies build a few dozen wherever they’re needed. That’s FREE money to the city.

I would challenge anyone to show me proof that a cell tower has lessoned someone’s property value in PTC.

On that note, let's put one tower in your front yard and another in your back yard. Shouldn't bother you a bit. I'm sure your property value will remain the same. Of course, you wouldn't care, since the thousands of dollars of income you get would more than offset any concern for property value. Only your neighbors and those that rely on the taxable value of your property would care. So, go ahead, just go after the almighty dollar.

You're darn right there's money to be made. And this church and all churches have the right to make any agreement they want to raise money. I won't give a hoot, until and unless you start asking for things that affect the rest of us (i.e., rezonings, structures that can be seen from miles away, etc.).

So, I guess you would mind if we put the cell tower directly behind your backyard? Let's do that and see it if impacts your property value.

After all the city would make a whopping $3,000 bucks a year!

My neighbors and I already have our cell tower. It's located on property that's zoned general commercial adjacent to our homes.

It was there before our neighborhood was built.

As for the values of our homes the cell tower has had no negative effect that any of us can determine. Before the real-estate bubble burst our neighborhood was doing just fine when homes came up for sale.

The cell tower just isn't that big of a deal.

Good, let's put another one back there then. At least we will keep them all together.

Co-locate the cell antennas as much as possible. More towers are inevitable. And more are needed and required. I suggest you take your concerns to the FCC.

It is not a matter of 'if' new towers will be placed. The concern should be 'how' they are placed. Co-locating, and proper location with disguised towers should be the emphasis here.

Personally...I hate them too. Just can't avoid them.

Just Like Welfare and Socialized Medicine - You Don't Have To Work For It.... THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE

I have not noticed the existing towers we have. Do you know where they are? I'm still not seeing the down side of these towers, other than you don't like how they look.

I do, however, see the point of having all cell companies use them. The article states that 3 or 4 additional companies could use the towers....why not more? (not a question for you, just thinking out loud.)

I'm trying to understand your point on this, PTCGoil, but if you start with conspiracy theories, I'm out.

Puhleese go to the Planning Comm. meeting this Monday evening at 7PM and tell them we want this. It is NOT a done deal and your comments go a long way on this.

Trust me, if we don't speak up NOW,while this is in planning stage, we will not end up with enough towers. If you can't make it, e-mail them at the city web site. Go to www.peachtree-city.org. On the left side of the home page, type in planning commission in the site search box and click on "go". Click on the first "page match" and it will bring up their page. Click on the green "email the Planning commission".

It took me a few reads to get what you did there. Pretty funny.

Show me a 185 foot tree in PTC on Hwy 74. Anywhere. And that is the visual best case scenario, but I'm sure this thing isn't gonna look anything like a tree.

Then, before Monday night, drive up 74 to Tyrone at the Publix, turn around and come back down and look at the top of the treeline and buffers along this road. Drive INTO the church property and look at the topography there.

They should design the new cell tower to look like a giant middle finger, if the city council votes against the wishes of the community.

Or, since it is on church property, design it to look like a giant cross. Nothing says "free market" like a 185 foot cross.

they can be hidden in the Steeple of the church. There are various options that you would never even know it was a cell phone tower. They don't have to look like just a metal tower.

I would like to know what exactly has been proposed before I decide the City should oppose this.

Then get yourself to the meeting Monday night and ASK YOUR QUESTIONS and if you don't like it SPEAK UP and say so at THIS meeting. This will be a done deal if Planning Board okays this to go on to Council.

I don't see why the Council would even consider a proposal that actually looked like a cell tower. There are WAY too many options.

2ndly, I thought Haddix/New Council was our great defender..what gives? This is a no brainer as far as I'm concerned. Either disguise the towers, or no tower at all.

It's the zoning. And, this is private property, not city property.
And how do you disguise a 185 foot structure sticking up in the sky twice as high as the existing treeline all by it's lonesome? A cell tower disguised as a fake tree on steroids? And that is exactly what it will look like. A cell tower disguised as a fake tree on steroids.

And how would we all feel if we bought our house/land knowing the land next to it was zoned one way and years later the city goes to your neighbor and says, how about rezoning to put in a cell tower for xyz co.? Would you be a little miffed and try to fight it? It's kind of a common experience compassion thing that we would not want to go through and what communities fight against in support of their neighbors. Go ahead, hit me with it.

You know, I want to get angry about these towers, but I have yet to read a reason to get up in arms about it.

If they were in any way dangerous, I would be with you. I don't believe they are uglier than the dish on many houses I drive by.

I want better reception. Now give me a good reason to oppose this and I will.

What's wrong with profits?

That's what they offered our church about 3 years ago. Didn't work because there wasn't enough land around the proposed tower. So I'll bet it is more now.

And yes, it is only half the story. Even a no comment from the church would have shown some effort going into the story. I could have written this story myself from just the planning commission agenda packets. Maybe that's how it is done.

It tis amazing how people whine about dropped calls, dead zones, and iffy cellular service. But....when it comes to enhancing the infrastructure to deal with these often times 'mandated' service enhancements, the very people who whine the most, are the first ones to use terminology such as "and not just add to Verizon's profits?".

I can assure you that Verizon isn't real happy about putting hundreds of thousand of dollars worth of infrastructure in just for kicks and giggles.

Neither is AT&T right now. But they are having to put a pant load of new towers in this year in these challenging times. Sooooooo.... get ready for the onslaught of tower variance requests that are likely to be seen in the coming year.

Just sayin'......

Just Like Welfare and Socialized Medicine - You Don't Have To Work For It.... THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE

Jesus is the ultimate silent business partner because he never takes a cut.

They also run pool companies and just think of that tax free money plate on sunday. Sounds pretty smart to me.

When has it NOT been?
This is just another way to "Pass the Offering Plate" I suppose.

I'm just say'n...