Rural Scotts Valley resident raises concerns over growing cell tower

Mark Meyer, 61, headed out of town for a wedding over the weekend, and on Sunday when he returned, pulling into his spacious driveway perched at the top of rural Scotts Valley near Lodato Park, he noticed a protrusion along the ridgeline toward Aptos.

The wireless tower that had been nestled within the Santa Cruz Mountains canopy appeared, to him, to have experienced a major growth spurt.

“I almost threw up,” Meyer said in an interview Tuesday. “The redwood trees were concealing the majority of the tower until two days ago.”

Meyer’s frustration comes just weeks after Scotts Valley admitted, at City Council, that due to poor record keeping, the City has been missing out on rent payments from telecommunications companies.

And it follows a winter storm season, during which County officials impressed upon Santa Cruz Mountains residents seeking better cellphone and data service during emergencies the benefits of not opposing tower projects.

The particular piece of infrastructure bothering Meyer is a tower owned by Crown Castle USA, Inc., the nation’s largest provider of shared communications infrastructure. It overlooks a 50-acre parcel of hiking land named after Frank Lodato, the venture capitalist once appointed chairman of the Central Coastal Conservation Commission by Ronald Reagan.

Meyer’s found a fair bit of success for himself over the years, which he credits to an aptitude for engineering and his luck in growing up in the Silicon Valley a few boom-and-bust cycles back.

“I had a school teacher that taught electronics when I was in high school,” he said, explaining he was already working at Hewlett Packard prior to graduation. “I just had a knack for it.”

He remembers washing-machine sized components shrinking, broadband networks sprouting and words starting to flow through the air instead of pulsing along wires.

“It’s not just telecommunications,” he said. “All the stuff that makes it work is stuff that I’ve been involved with.”

Meanwhile, his living quarters expanded. He and his wife moved from an 1,800-square-foot home in Saratoga to their current 3,300-square-foot house in Scotts Valley.

“We’ve got a downward-looking view,” he said, describing the way they can see the city lights off in the distance while being surrounded by nature. “The scenery and the property drew us to the house.”

They paid about $1 million for it, 19 years ago, and have made significant upgrades over the years—including a quarter-million-dollar pool. But now, with the cell tower looming large in his psyche, he’s afraid the value will plummet (though he concedes the County assessor likely won’t agree).

“You should have a $2.5 million-dollar house,” he said. “I don’t even know if we could get back what we’ve put in.”

While he says he isn’t opposing the cell tower modification out of fears it could be shooting out harmful electromagnetic radiation, he knows there are some who worry about this—meaning, he also argues, it could shrink the list of property shoppers who might be interested in the digs.

How does he feel about having spent a career laboring to help a technology industry that is now causing him this figurative headache?

“I have nothing against the towers,” he said. “I understand their purpose. But I do have a lot against the neglect to at least fit (them) into their surroundings. That’s common practice now. But not in Scotts Valley, because they don’t care.”

The Press Banner reached out to Mayor Jack Dilles on Monday to get the scoop on what’s really going on. He dispatched City staff to dig into the books to uncover the answer.

On Tuesday, he replied to say Scotts Valley didn’t have a choice but to let Crown Castle and DISH Wireless LLC complete the site work.

“The city was required to approve the modification because this project meets the criteria for a Minor Modification to Existing Wireless Facility—per FCC regulations Section 6409 which mandates state and local government to approve the upgrades to the tower,” he said. “Attached is the letter the city received from Crown Castle which owned the tower when they submitted their permit application for the upgrades.”

That document, dated July 29, 2022, goes into detail about why federal rules mean municipalities don’t have jurisdiction to question small changes to towers.

Under scope of work, it lists, “Collocation of antennas, ancillary equipment and ground equipment as per plans for a new carrier on an existing wireless communication facility.” It also included a checklist meant as proof of why Scotts Valley has to rubber-stamp the renovation.

“Does the modification increase the height of the tower by more than the greater of: (a) 10% (b) or, the height of an additional antenna array plus separation of up to 20 feet from the top of the nearest existing antenna?” one question asks.

“No,” the applicant wrote.

“Does the modification defeat the concealment elements of the eligible support structure?” another inquires.

“No,” was the response to this, too.

The Press Banner reached out to Sharon James, who signed the letter for the applicant.

“What the mayor told you is correct,” said James, declining to go into specifics, instead referring questions to the media department, which did not respond by deadline.

Dilles declined to provide the architectural drawings for the project, claiming the City would need permission from the architect in order to share them with the public. However, he was able to confirm the details about the elongation.

“The tower was extended by 10 feet, from 111 feet to 121 feet,” he said. “This is (a) less than 10% increase as indicated in the checklist provided.”

Meyer doesn’t fault the company for wanting to develop its network. He’s unhappy Scotts Valley didn’t push back.

“We wouldn’t be talking about this right now if you were interviewing me in Saratoga or Los Gatos or Woodside,” he said, suggesting this was anything but a minor upgrade. “How would you feel if you spent this much money on a place and had the entire scenery ruined?”