C Spire Wireless wants to build two new cellular towers in McComb, but it may face aesthetic obstacles in the form of a new city ordinance.
C Spire wants to put the towers right off of Delaware Avenue Extension near Croft Metals and the Enterprise-Journal, and another on Highway 51 behind Dollar General.
However, the city board recently amended an ordinance that states structures more than 100 feet tall — including cell towers — must blend in to the surrounding area.
The proposed 200-foot tower on Delaware Avenue is what the city has a problem with.
Officials suggested the tower be built to resemble a pine tree.
C Spire representatives, however, said that a tower that tall would actually stand out more if it looked like a tree, considering how much taller cell towers are than trees.
“We just feel that at the height we need to reach the coverage objective, a tree would stand out more than these other types of mono poles,” C Spire representative David McGehee said.
v said the company needs the towers to help take some of the demand for coverage off of the other towers, which will prevent dropped calls.
He said McComb and Brookhaven are the fastest-growing areas for C Spire in Mississippi.
“We run into a lot of situations where you might have coverage outside of a vehicle or a building but when you go inside, it tends to drop off,” McGehee said.
The towers that C Spire has in the city now are not enough to meet demand.
“So many people have gotten cellphones now that these towers can only transmit and receive so many calls,” he said.
C Spire is willing to build the tower any way the city requests, but building it to resemble a tree will cost more, McGehee said.
Mayor Whitney Rawlings said, “They are doing everything that the code requires in asking to locate in approved zones.”
After seeing pictures, some board members were not convinced a tower that looks like a tree is the best way to go.
“Is a 200-foot tree going to blend in?” Selectman Michael Cameron asked after reviewing pictures of other towers done in a similar way.
The board will vote on the towers at next Tuesday’s regular board meeting at 5:30 p.m. in city hall.
