MERIDIAN TOWNSHIP - Will there be a new cell tower on 4980 Park Lake Road? That was one discussion item that sparked a long deliberation during Monday night's Planing Commission meeting on June 22nd.

The request to install a 90-foot-tall cell tower comes from Jacobs Engineering who works with Verizon Wireless. This topic wasn't on the agenda to be voted on; just to be discussed and time for the commission to ask the representative from Jacobs Engineering about the proposed project.

The height of the tower was a concern that was raised by some members of the Planning Commission, but Commissioner Thomas Deits reminded everyone that the aesthetics of the tower was not something the Planning Commission deals with directly.

Deits said, "in addition a taller tower like that will make more co-locations possible; with more co-locations, fewer other towers elsewhere. So I think we really need to be careful talking about tower height if we're not talking about safety we're talking about aesthetics, we're marching down the wrong road here in this deliberation."

With turning the focus away from the height of the tower, there was still plenty of discussion such as the issue of safety and the location of the tower.

It's still up for discussion on whether or not the cell tower will be built on 4980 Park Lake, but the proposed cell tower does meet all current township ordinance requirements.