Cell trouble in Sunriver? New tower may be built

SUNRIVER — Cell phone users could get better service in Sunriver by next spring or summer if a company gets permission from Sunriver Resort to build a new cell tower in the area.

Cascadia PM, a contractor for Verizon Wireless, has plans to construct a 150-foot tower east of the railroad tracks and south of Cottonwood Road, company consultant Lauran Davidson said. Sunriver Limited Partnership, a sister company to Sunriver Resort, governs the land and has preliminarily approved most of the project but is still working on the final lease agreement.

If approved, Davidson said the new tower would improve reception and more than double the volume of calls that can be handled in this resort community south of Bend because antennas increase the number of calls capable of being processed.

“Everybody’s hurting out there,” Davidson said. “Nobody has the coverage they want.”

Right now, Davidson said, there is only one old, outdated tower west of Sunriver that was built in the 1960s atop what locals call Spring River Butte, south of Pitsua Butte. This new tower would have capacity for up to three carriers — including Verizon Wireless.

Verizon ultimately wants three sites to get close to 100 percent coverage in homes and vehicles in the Sunriver area, including areas along U.S. Highway 97.

To that end, someday Cascadia PM wants to also increase the height of the current tower on Spring River Butte and build a third tower around the business park area.

While Sunriver Resort has not yet approved these plans, Marketing Director ShanRae Hawkins welcomed the ideas because of the poor cell coverage in Sunriver.

“It would be improved cell service,” she said, adding later that “it kind of depends where you’re at in the community. In my office, it’s kind of hit and miss. It’s not as good as if you’re in Bend, so we certainly could use some improvements.”

Josh Dayton, the manager of Sunriver Snowboards in the Village Mall, said he gets good reception in Bend and La Pine — but never in Sunriver.

“It’s horrible,” Dayton said. “My Verizon phone works everywhere but here.”

Not everybody agreed.

Kate Halvorsen, who runs Village Mercantile in Sunriver, said her Cellular One phone works fine.

“I’ve never had a problem,” she said.

The proposed tower would sit about 500 yards from the nearest Sunriver area homes, Davidson said. It would cost at least $200,000.

Cascadia has been working on this plan for more than a year. In that time, the company has held three public meetings with Sunriver home-owners and sent out more than 700 letters explaining the idea and allowing people to comment.

“We have had to work hand and fist with Sunriver home-owners,” Davidson said. “They’ve called the shots. We’ve traveled basically every foot of Sunriver to make sure it’s not going to distract from someone’s view. … Sunriver is very particular, and I don’t blame the resort.”

Some initial concerns centered around whether the new cell tower could be seen from Sunriver.

Cascadia raised some white and orange balloons from where the tower would sit and worked with seven people from a Sunriver Owners Association task force, who drove around for an entire day to see if they could see them.

Some could, but Davidson said it looked like a dead tree snag or telephone pole.

“The only place you could see them was from the entrance to Penhollow Lake,” Sunriver’s name for its sewer settling pond, Davidson added. “You could see the very tip … literally, you’d have to know what you were looking for.”

Hawkins said feedback from the community has been positive, including the Sunriver Owners Association, which has affirmed the project.

“It will be better service within Sunriver,” Owners Association Communications Coordinator Marti Croal said. “We’ve had stories of people who hang out second-story windows to get a signal.”

If the resort approves the proposal, Davidson said he will seek permission from Deschutes County to begin construction and finish the tower no later than next summer.

“People want the site as long as we don’t make it ugly,” he added. “We just have to be a good neighbor. Hardly anybody does not want a cell site.”