Planning commission approves 180-foot Mountain West Pipeline communications tower

The Utah County Planning Commission on June 17 approved a conditional-use permit allowing Mountain West Pipeline LLC to build a 180-foot telecommunications tower on a roughly 3.20-acre parcel near Lake Mountain.

Staff, recorded in the meeting as being presented by Cheryl Dong, told the commission the site is zoned Mining and Grazing 1 and already contains multiple communication facilities. Staff cited Utah County Land Use Ordinance provisions that limit tower height to 100 feet without a conditional use and said the remote location and the operational need to transmit signals across Colorado, Wyoming and Utah justified the additional height. "The staff found that the increased height is justifiable and unlikely to negatively impact public health, safety or welfare," a staff presenter said during the meeting.

Cindy Sheehan, Land Representative for Mountain West Pipeline, said the tower will support the company’s internal communications network across three states and is designed to achieve line-of-sight from the mountain-top location. "It's only for our internal communications so it'll have some sort of microwave on the top but it won't be like we don't rent space to Verizon or anything like that," Sheehan said.

Commissioner Speaker 3 moved to approve Conditional Use Permit CU2025-4A to exceed the 100-foot limit, with Speaker 8 seconding. The motion passed by voice vote.

The approval is subject to staff findings and the conditions noted in the staff report. The file number and the staff report were referenced on the record; the commission did not provide a roll-call tally of votes during the public announcement, only voice approval. The applicant and staff may proceed with requirements spelled out in the staff report and any applicable building or conditional-use processes.

The commission moved on to other agenda items after the vote.