ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, November 22, 1996 TAG: 9611220016
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: MARK CLOTHIER STAFF WRITER
GTE Mobilnet needed a place to stick a 150-foot cellular phone tower in the town's north end. Blacksburg's Town Council was reluctant to allow it on North Main Street, a short distance from Blacksburg High School and a town park.
Enter Virginia Tech.
In September, Blacksburg Town Manager Ron Secrist called Ray Smoot, Tech's vice president of finance, to see if the university might allow the tower on campus. Town Council had deferred a vote at an August meeting, in part over concerns North Main wasn't the best site. Council also questioned whether the town should develop a cellular phone tower policy before voting. In October, a vote was again deferred, this time until December.
Since then, Smoot and GTE Mobilnet officials have been working on a plan to build the cellular phone antenna on the press box at Lane Stadium.
"I think its a good example of the town and university working together to address a community issue," Smoot said. "The town helps us out from time to time and we try to reciprocate."
Smoot said Tech has two concerns: whether the 10- to 12-foot antenna (a tower would no longer be needed atop the press box) would look bad and whether it would disrupt the on-campus communication towers, used by the buildings and grounds crew and Tech police.
Drawings are being made to show what the antenna would look like atop Lane Stadium from all directions. Smoot said he's getting advice from engineers to see if the additional antenna would interfere with the equipment already there.
No use fee has been set, but Smoot said Tech expects to receive fair market value for providing the site.
Smoot said the antenna on the press box would be just for GTE Mobilnet.
"But we'd want them to agree to allow other users as needs warranted, rather than have to have another site," he said.
The tower would serve downtown Blacksburg, an area GTE Mobilnet said isn't getting adequate service as demand increases. Blacksburg cellular phone customers now are served by towers atop Price Mountain and the Pedlar Hills near Shawsville.
LENGTH: Short : 46 linesby CNB