A proposed cell phone tower in the community of Oracle is on the Pinal County Planning and Zoning Commission's agenda today, after the topic was continued from a meeting last month.
Adrian Darimont, who owns the property that would be leased to Verizon Wireless for the proposed 73-foot tower, said last week there were no plans for the company to ask for another continuance today.
The Verizon tower would be camouflaged as a pine tree and would be situated in the center of town, behind Oracle Market, formerly Hildreth's Market, 760 E. American Ave.
The plan has raised the ire of a group of longtime residents who defeated a similar proposal for a tower in the same place in 2004. However, the previous plan was for a 150-foot tower with no camouflage, and at the time the town was lobbying for an emergency helipad where helicopters had been landing already. The helipad was built shortly after the last tower proposal was defeated.
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The helipad is near the proposed tower site, and some say putting a tower there would interfere with helicopters' flight path.
The helipad is used 20 to 30 times a year to take people to be treated for serious illnesses or injuries.
Emergencies from nearby San Manuel and Mammoth are handled by helicopters landing in Oracle.
Darimont said he does not want to do anything that could harm the community.
He's heard about the tower that was proposed in 2004, he said, and he wouldn't have gone for that.
About three years ago, he and his wife, Kari, moved from Tucson to a ranch they owned in Oracle. Around the same time, they bought several businesses in town, including Hildreth's Market, changing its name in the process.
Considering his financial interests in the town, he said, "I'm not going to do anything that's going to affect Oracle in the negative. It would be stupid for me to do that, wouldn't it?"
He said he's been slow to share information with the public - a meeting to address the opposition's concerns was scheduled for Monday - because he wanted to gather information first.
Meanwhile, Ross Hopkins, who has been a sort of liaison between the opposition group and the consulting company handling the matter for Verizon, said the tower applicants are not being forthright with the data they used to determine whether a tower would be a hazard for helicopters using the helipad.
Hopkins said District 1 Supervisor Pete Rios visited the property several weeks ago and was surprised and unhappy to find a home's fence line about 40 feet from the tower site.
Rios confirmed the visit via an e-mail.
He said he's "still working with all sides. No decisions have been made."
The Planning and Zoning Commission is a recommending body to the Pinal County Board of Supervisors, of which Rios is chairman.
Today's meeting begins at 9 a.m. at the Emergency Operations Center hearing room in building F of the Pinal County administration complex, 31 N. Pinal St., Florence.
Contact reporter Shelley Shelton at sshelton@azstarnet.com or 807-8464.
