Proposed Verizon cell tower gets poor reception from rural El Dorado Hills community

EL DORADO HILLS – A rural community in El Dorado County is angry about the construction of a Verizon cell phone tower in their neighborhood.

“The tower itself doesn’t fit into the area. This is a rural area,” said El Dorado Hills resident David Gersten.

Gersten said he and his neighbors heard about four months ago that a proposed Verizon cell phone tower could be coming to their neck of the woods on Malcolm Dixon Road in El Dorado Hills.

“What we’re going to see from the decks of our homes and our pastures is an antenna,” Gersten said.

According to a notice they received from the El Dorado County Planning and Construction Department, it would be a monopine tower — meaning it would be disguised as a pine tree — that would stand about 115 feet tall.

In addition to not wanting to look at them, Gersten said many of them have animals and children who play outside, which raises questions about health concerns.

“We are also concerned about what will happen and what will happen to our animals because of the radio frequency and the noise,” Gersten said.

Verizon’s coverage map shows the area of ​​Malcolm Dixon Road in red, meaning they have ‘5G Ultra Wideband’. So neighbors aren’t sure why a cell tower is needed in that area.

“That’s a big concern. There are a couple of other towers behind you that are a little ways away. They’re only 40 to 50 feet tall. They could add to that and make those go up 100 to 200 feet.” ,” said Steve Ulrich, another area resident.

We reached out to Verizon but received no response before this story was published.

The current neighbors said they plan to attend a planning commission meeting next month to voice their concerns.