Developers hope to build a 180-foot cellular tower at the top end of Kaumana Drive in Hilo, according to filings with the Windward Planning Commission.
At next week’s meeting of the commission, California-based company Renegade Towers LLC will present an application for a use permit to build a telecommunication facility on a parcel of land near the intersection of Nolemana Street and Kaumana Drive, close to the Daniel K. Inouye Highway.
The parcel in question is a residential-zoned 14.6-acre lot owned by the Edward Lamar Britton III Trust.
Renegade Towers is proposing that the unmanned facility would be located within a 2,800-square-foot area of that parcel, about 130 feet from Kaumana Drive, and more than 1,000 feet away from two residences on the property.
The application says the facility will improve local cellphone coverage both in the nearby community and further mauka on Daniel K. Inouye Highway, as well as providing 911 services in areas where they are not currently available.
Telecommunication provider AT&T would be the facility’s “anchor tenant,” and the tower would be able to carry instruments for up to three other providers. The application states that Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile have expressed interest in co-locating at the facility.
According to the application, Renegade Towers received a use permit in 2016 for a similar 195-foot-tall tower about 1.2 miles further west on the highway. However, the estimated cost of just bringing electricity to that site was about $1 million, which was deemed too much to proceed, and the permit expired last year.
In the current proposal, Renegade has proposed to paint the tower to blend in with the surrounding area, instead of designing it to mimic a tree like other towers. The application claims that the painted tower design has a smaller silhouette and is less visible than those painted to look like trees.
“Stealth tree (towers) do not weather well in Hawaii, making them an eyesore in a very short time,” the application reads, going on to say that the dense foliage in the area will screen the tower from view. The application also states that the tower has to be at least 180 feet tall in order to maintain line-of-sight to its surrounding coverage area.
However, the Planning Department, in its favorable recommendation for the project, advises that the tower still be disguised as a pine tree.
The Planning Department’s recommendation identifies no likely negative impacts to traffic, the environment or public health. However, cellphone tower proposals are often controversial among residents, with previous proposals elsewhere around the island spurring public concerns about the impacts of wireless radio wave transmissions, although the Telecommunications Act of 1996 prohibits local authorities from denying an application based on such concerns alone.
According to the application, because the tower is located more than 300 feet from any residence, no public meetings have yet been held on the matter. The application includes only one piece of correspondence with a resident: Mary Uyeda, who wrote that she is a longtime resident of Kaumana City subdivision.
Uyeda wrote that she invites improvements to the area “especially since cell service is weak,” but raised some concerns about the visibility of the tower and its health effects, advising it should be positioned away from homes, particularly those housing pregnant women or young children.
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
