SPANISH FORT, Ala.—A two-year debate over the possible construction of a cell phone tower on the Causeway inched closer to resolution Monday night when the Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend approval of tower developer Lester Boihem’s rezoning request.

Boihem, owner of Two-Way Communications Co., wants to construct a 150-foot cell tower on the site of the former WLVV radio station at 1263 Battleship Parkway. The site already includes a building and two AM antennas, and Boihem would like to proceed with construction of a tower with the capacity to handle five carriers with as many as 12 antennas each. The site was purchased recently by the nonprofit Archangel Radio.

Citing his clearance of numerous regulatory hurdles to date, Boihem said he could have the tower constructed from start to finish in 30 to 60 days, and said the owners of the station would prefer to have it operational by early September, typically considered the height of hurricane season.

Building Official Bruce Renkert said although he appreciates Boihem’s zeal for completing the project in a timely fashion, the commission’s positive recommendation Monday of Boihem’s request to rezone the property from single-family, low-density residential to a telecommunications tower district is only one step in the process. Provided the City Council accepts the commission’s recommendation and approves the rezoning request, Boihem must then submit a site plan for approval, meaning the project could not even begin to move forward before the council’s September meeting.

Monday’s decision concluded a head-to-head competition between Boihem’s Two-Way Communications and Greg Boyd’s Intellicom Wireless Management Inc. Boyd’s proposal for a 180-foot tower requested the same rezoning classification on the site of the former Las Brias Hotel behind R&R Seafood. Some 800 feet separate the proposed sites.

Commissioner Kevin Diamond said both presentations addressed admirably the aesthetic issues construction of an unsightly tower raises, but he prefers containing the city’s telecommunications district to one area and leaving the former hotel site available for future development.

“I feel the site the hotel (was) on could be used in a better way,” Diamond said, at which point Renkert noted that regardless of the commission’s recommendation, the City Council will still hear both presentations and make the final decision.

And while Commissioner Mary Brabner applauded both parties for maintaining a “gentleman’s discussion” throughout the proceedings, she urged her colleagues to “take a stand” by endorsing only one plan even if the recommendation should be reversed by the council.

“We need to pick one and hang our hat on it,” she said, adding, “I feel a lot more educated (on the subject) today than I did two weeks ago.”

Prior to the vote, Boyd argued his company not only had the best possible site—some 100 feet further off the Causeway than his competitor and masked considerably by the existing seafood restaurant—but he is also trying to save the city ever needing to build another tower by constructing one he can add on to should carrier interest increase.

When Vice Chairman Bernard Davis asked Boyd, however, if the signal his tower will deliver can be concentrated more heavily along the Causeway than Interstate 10 or points closer to Mobile, the developer said there are no guarantees in the telecommunications business and even his competitor would have to agree.

“(These signals are) designed to serve Spanish Fort, and I can strongly recommend the carriers point their signals toward the city, but I cannot dictate it,” Boyd said.

He also described the regulatory process required as an “extremely tedious process” that he likened to “step one of about 12 different steps” and said he anticipated it taking six to nine months to complete his tower. Boyd later called those estimates conservative and guessed that he is only about 30 days behind the timeframe Boihem provided because regulators will already be up to speed on the property, thereby reducing the amount of time taken between steps.

Two residents—including Jay Pirincci of Florida, who owns two nearby lots, and Spanish Fort resident Charles Pickle, who owns six lots, sandwiched between Pirincci and the former hotel site—opposed “vehemently” the proposed use of the property. Both men—Pickle in person and Pirincci via e-mail—contend conversion of the site into a telecommunications district conflicts directly with any future development of the area in a way that could boost its hospitality appeal and, thereby, would impact property values negatively.

In other business, the commission:

An informal work session will be held at 6 p.m. Monday, July 27, in the conference room of City Hall. The next regular meeting will begin with a work session at 6 p.m. Aug. 10, followed immediately at 6:30 p.m. by the meeting.