UPDATE: 100-foot cell tower designed to look like a pine tree pitched for Rosewood neighborhood
.png "A 100-foot cell tower, made to look like a pine tree, is being proposed for the 3600 block of Rosewood Drive, and will be considered by Columbia’s zoning board this week. In this simulation from the zoning board packet, the arrow is pointing to how the tower would look from the intersection of Rosewood and South Kilbourne.")
A proposal to construct a 100-foot tall cell tower — one designed to look like a tree — along Rosewood Drive in Columbia is set to be considered by Columbia’s zoning board.
According to paperwork filed with the city, the tower would be erected at 3624 Rosewood Drive. That’s just west of S. Kilbourne Road. The cell tower item was set to be on the city Board of Zoning Appeals agenda on Thursday. However, zoning officials said the item has now been deferred, and will be on the zoning board’s April 1 agenda.
The request comes from Mount Pleasant’s Optima Towers, according to city filings. It calls for a 100-foot “monopine” cell tower that would serve T-Mobile and at least three other broadband carriers. Monopine cell towers, which have gained popularity in recent years, are designed to resemble a tree. In this case, the tower would be made to look like a pine tree.
The idea of placing a cell tower at the Rosewood Drive site has been nearly four years in the making. Discussions about the matter were taking place as far back as 2017, when some residents expressed their opposition to the project.
Columbia zoning administrator Rachel Bailey said the plans have evolved over time. She told The State that a proposal was submitted for zoning board review in 2018, but the item kept getting deferred and was eventually withdrawn. No hearing was ever held.
But now the project is back up for a city review, and there have been several changes to the proposal since those initial discussions.
In a 2017 story in The State, discussions centered on a 130-foot tower. The proposal for Thursday shrinks that to a 100-foot structure.
And Bailey says there have been other changes. In 2018, the proposal was to build the tower toward the rear of the Rosewood Drive parcel, and called for the construction of a new building to house equipment for the tower. Now those plans have shifted.
“The current plan now shows the tower more in the middle of the parcel, and the existing building will be vacated of any tenants so that the equipment can be housed in the structure,” Bailey said.
City paperwork says the building on the property currently is used as a recording studio.
A few residents have already penned letters to the zoning board — included in the board’s agenda packet — opposing the latest proposal.
“This tower should not be located in the center of Rosewood Drive,” resident Chandra Williams wrote. “This is a residential area with some limited commercial properties. The tower is an eyesore for the community and businesses in the area.”
Another resident, Michael Oana, wrote in opposition to the tower and suggested the project should perhaps be undertaken at Midlands Tech’s nearby South Beltline campus.
This story was originally published February 1, 2021 at 2:12 PM.
