T-Mobile might connect with Gurnee
Gurnee village board members have made a tactical move to assure T-Mobile will build a cellular telephone tower somewhere other than on land near two village subdivisions and homes just outside of town.
Mayor Kristina Kovarik said Wednesday that T-Mobile is expected to strike a deal to build a 150-foot cell tower on the village's west side, but not on its originally targeted site in an area that drew homeowner opposition.
Some homeowners in the South Ridge and Rolling Ridge subdivisions, near Hunt Club Road and Washington Street, were concerned about T-Mobile's tower being unsightly and detracting from the area. Kovarik lives in South Ridge.
"It's a Catch 22," Kovarik said. "Nobody wants it in their back yard, but everyone wants good cell phone reception."
In December, Kovarik became upset after T-Mobile initially refused to reconsider plans for the tower on unincorporated land near South Ridge and Rolling Ridge. She even encouraged residents to protest by dropping T-Mobile service.
At a meeting Monday night, the village board made it next to impossible for T-Mobile to build the tower on its original site.
Trustees agreed to bring into the village, through annexation, 7 acres of wetlands and detention property near the southwest corner of Hunt Club Road and West Gurnee Glen, which had been in unincorporated Lake County south of Washington Street.
Kovarik said the annexation means Gurnee now surrounds all four sides of private land originally pegged for T-Mobile's cell tower. That'll allow the village board to forcibly annex the property at a special meeting Monday, Feb. 9, making it part of Gurnee and allowing officials to control what goes on it.
Three other local governmental agencies own property close to Hunt Club and Washington suitable for T-Mobile's tower, said Kovarik. She plans to meet today with the unidentified governmental agencies with the idea of securing land for T-Mobile.
Kovarik said residents in the Gurnee Glen subdivision outside of the village were willing to turn over the 7 acres to ensure T-Mobile's tower goes elsewhere.
"Gurnee Glen was extremely concerned about a cell phone tower in their front yard," she said.
T-Mobile representatives say the company wants to boost its service in residential neighborhoods. They say industry studies show more than 50 percent of long-distance calls are over wireless telephones.