Whitefish nixes new cellphone tower

A 100-foot cellphone tower disguised as a fake pine tree won’t cut it in Whitefish.

The Whitefish City Council on Monday unanimously rejected a proposal from Verizon Wireless that would have placed a tower north of the railroad viaduct in the viewshed of Big Mountain. 

Verizon will need to find a more suitable location for a structure that tall, the council agreed.

Verizon wanted to add the tower — and make it look like a faux pine tree — to improve cellphone coverage and bandwidth near downtown Whitefish for its subscribers. The tower was designed to allow two additional antennas from other wireless providers.

Verizon currently has a tower on Lion Mountain, but consultants for the company have advised more coverage is needed to keep up with demand from smartphone users.

Kevin Howell, a Verizon consultant who attended the council’s public hearing on the matter, said data quality will degrade without additional capacity. He suggested tourism itself is a reason for upgrading capacity.

“Visitors are taking photos of Whitefish and sending them home to grandma. It takes capacity to do that,” Howell said.

Council members suggested Verizon consider other options, either on top of the Emergency Services Center or making an existing tower at 10th Street and Baker Avenue taller.