Cody, Wyoming planners said that they wanted the Verizon tower to be painted in a sagebrush color to blend in with the landscape; plus, they said it would help prevent pilots from being blinded by shiny galvanizing.
Wireless Estimator seldom writes about banal zoning and moaning issues, but every once in a while one falls into that galvanic gray area such as what recently happened in Cody, Wyo. where town planners had to use their Solomonic skills to decide whether Verizon should paint their newly-constructed tower in shades of sagebrush instead of its current boring stippled gray.
In the town that was founded by Buffalo Bill in 1899, they stuck to their guns and told Verizon that the newly constructed tower must be painted a color similar to the sagebrush and grass hillside as it was supposed to be when it was approved last year.
According to an April 19 letter by Digital Skylines president and Verizon representative Kevin T. Howell, after the unpainted tower was erected, several people, including the property owner who lives across the site’s driveway, said they thought the galvanized surface was acceptable. Howell asked the Planning and Zoning Commission to reconsider, according to the Cody Enterprise.
What industry observers will find interesting is that Cody’s planners said that by painting the tower there would be less chance of glare from a shiny, unpainted surface impacting pilots. The tower’s height is only 59 feet above ground level.