Holtville City Council votes no on cellphone tower

The construction of a cellphone tower at Samaha Park was denied after strong opposition from the community.

City council members voted 3-2 against the project. During last night’s council meeting Clear Talk proposed the installment of a 120-foot cell tower at Samaha Park, a field that sits in the heart of the city. Members of the community strongly opposed this project saying, rather than benefiting the city, it would take away from it.

Samaha Park is used by hundreds of residents and non-residents for Pop-Warner football, high-school baseball and even soccer.

City Manager Nick Wells says part of the conditional-use permit the planning commission issued was dependent on a lease that was not approved by the council.

“This is the third or fourth meeting we had between the planning commission and the city council where we had extensive input from the public and we knew they were coming,” said Wells, “We invited them and we set aside time for them to have their say in the process and ultimately it affected the council members and they said, ‘You know we are going to listen what these people have to say?’.”

Wells adds, some council members visited a park in Somerton, Arizona where Clear Talk has a tower, like the one proposed and says some council members did not like how it looked.