Cellular tower approved in historic district, despite neighborhood opposition
The Minneapolis Heritage Preservation Commission (HPC) on May 15 approved a certificate of appropriateness for a cellular tower that the Marcy-Holmes neighborhood has fought against for 20 months.
In 2005, the city allowed T-Mobile to construct the cellular communications tower atop the five-story Andrews House apartment building, 706-08 SE Fifth St., located in the city’s Fifth Street Southeast Historic District. The tower remains there currently.
The Marcy-Holmes Neighborhood Association (MHNA) asked the city to reverse the decision. A letter to the city from MHNA states that allowing construction of “this unsightly apparatus without neighborhood notification or HPC approval creates a dangerous precedent for all of the city’s historic districts.”
In response to the complaints about the project, the city this year required T-Mobile to apply for preservation review and approvals. The city acknowledged that its 2005 zoning approval was in error because it did not take into consideration the area’s historic district designation.
The HPC’s approval includes conditions, such as moving the tower’s antennas and equipment to a lower portion of the roof. The conditions also specify that the antennas would not extend more than 10 feet above the building’s roofline.
The HPC decision is final unless an appeal is filed, said HPC staff member Erik Carlson. An appeal would go to the city’s Zoning and Planning Committee on June 7 or June 14, with that committee’s recommendation going to the full City Council.
Tom Lincoln, chair of the Marcy-Holmes Safety and Livability Committee, said that the HPC approval of the certificate of appropriateness meant the association lost ground — it allows T-Mobile to appeal only the conditions since it has already received the certificate approval.
Carlson thinks T-Mobile will appeal the HPC ruling based on the cost involved and effectiveness of the antennas at a different location. T-Mobile did not respond to a phone call.
Lincoln said the neighborhood association will appeal. It was required to file an appeal by May 25, as this paper went to press.
last revised: June 14, 2007