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Chattanooga: Cell tower company alters Southside plans

By: Amy Williams
(Contact)

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Ken Pritchard

A company planning to put a 180-foot wireless phone tower in Chattanooga’s Southside has withdrawn its request.

But the company has its eye on another site less than 1,000 feet away.

Josh Ligon of Wireless Properties Inc. appeared before the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals on Wednesday to ask the application be withdrawn.

“We withdrew because we are very, very busy in the four states where we presently have towers and in new markets we are working on expanding to,” said G. Larry Wells, president of Wireless Properties.

The company submitted an application earlier this year to put the cell phone tower at 1706 Rossville Ave., a property near the intersection of Washington Street and Rossville Avenue that is surrounded by new and future residential and retail projects.

A group of residents from the area had come out against the tower, saying the location would harm future development in the Southside, which is in the midst of a revitalization.

Residents and developers had called the tower an “eyesore,” saying it would impede progress made in recent years to help rid the community of crime and unsightly properties and bring businesses and residents back to the area.

But it was that revitalization and growth in the area that made the tower necessary, company officials contended.

Developer Ken Pritchard attended Wednesday’s meeting and expressed relief at hearing the request had been withdrawn.

Mr. Pritchard owns the former Office Coordinators Inc. warehouse across the street from the proposed site and has been working over the past year to convert the building to an energy efficient, mixed-use retail and residential development.

The focus on environmental responsibility and energy efficiency is something he said Main Street needs.

“So (the cell tower) is kind of a counter example, in my mind, to throw up this eyesore of a structure,” he said.

alternate site

Company officials say they will continue to evaluate an alternate site owned by Southern Auto Body Supply, near Rossville Avenue and Adams Street.

Matt Bates, vice president of Wireless Properties, said he believes the majority of people in the neighborhood would be pleased with the new site, about 900 feet southeast of the location originally proposed on Rossville Avenue.

“We feel from that location, we can still serve the (radio frequency) need that’s out there, and we can be even farther away from the district, and in an even better location,” Mr. Bates told the board in June.

Because the company’s officials chose to withdraw the application, they can resubmit it at any time without a waiting period. If the application had been denied by the board, the company would have had to wait for a year before submitting another application.

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