Warden residents question towers spot

WARDEN — Warden residents challenged city councilmembers about placement of two radio towers on Beck Way, the smell from food processors and improper parking.

City hall was filled with people, most agreeing there needs to be improvements to Warden. A couple led the challenge of placing of two radio towers in a residential area.

Ehman Sheldon, a Warden resident and Othello city administrator, said he counted 17 cars parked on the wrong side of the street when he drove into the city. When he spoke to a woman parking against traffic, she responded, “This is Warden. Nobody cares.”

“Is that true? Do you care? Does the city care?” he asked. “So what are you going to do about it? What are you going to do to improve Warden? What are you going to do to attract business and people to buy homes?”

He continued, noting 43 days in the past summer Warden stank because of the food processors in the city, adding the days were reported to the state Department of Ecology.

“Are all contract requirements being adhered to?” he asked. “Have you checked that? I have, and I can tell you that all requirements are not being to adhered to. There are violations of your contract.”

He also challenged the city’s agreements with Verizon Wireless and the Multi Agency Communications Center (MACC) to build towers on Beck Way.

Sheldon read from Warden’s city code book, saying the R-1 zone the towers are being built in do not allow for buildings taller than two stories or 35 feet. He pointed out municipal facilities, schools and churches are exempted from the restriction.

“The zone is quite restrictive and it allows no uses, which are not entirely residential in nature,” he said. “Do you know you’ve allowed a 150-foot tower in an R-1 zone, right behind my house, 10 feet from my neighbor’s fence? Did you know you’re in violation of your own code?”

He asked why the homeowners weren’t notified.

“This is our property values that you’re affecting with your decision,” he said. “If you value your oath of office, you’ll reconsider this decision. This is Warden. Nobody cares. Do you care?”

Mayor Roldan Capetillo responded he felt ambushed by the questions, saying the meetings about the towers were printed in the newspaper.

“Did you read them? I don’t know if you read them or not, but they were put in the newspaper,” he said. “By law we have to put them in the newspaper, and you, of all people, would know that.”

Capetillo said the city is working with the processors on the smell, adding the stink is moving out of the city, but it takes time.

“It doesn’t take one day to move it, one year to move it. If I’m not mistaken it must have taken Othello over 10 years to move theirs out,” he said. “Do I care about Warden? If I didn’t care about Warden, I wouldn’t be here.”

Ehman Sheldon’s wife, Sandra Sheldon, agreed with Capetillo, saying the city has made gains, but was concerned the city agreed to have the towers placed in one of the nicer neighborhoods.

“I think we all realize there’s not a lot of really nice residential areas in the community, and that’s one of the things we’re trying to improve,” she said. “When people tried to build sheds in the backyard, tried to put fences in their front yard … the city hasn’t allowed that. There’s certain codes to do that, but that’s a 150-foot tower, plus another tower.”

She talked about how vacant land four blocks away from where the towers are slated to be built wouldn’t interfere with people’s property values.

“I don’t think you would let a manufacturer build a plant in that area. I would hope not, but maybe you would, but there’s a whole piece of land back there that’s ready for development.”

Capetillo repeated all the proper steps were made for putting up the towers, saying he can’t make people read the legal notice section.

Councilmember Mike Leavitt said the council wouldn’t intentionally do something to put the city in jeopardy of a lawsuit.

“Most evenings we have three or four people here,” he said. “We discussed the Verizon deal probably two or three meetings previous to OK’ing it, and that’s something I’ve argued from the beginning. We need to have better communication.”

Originally published March 11, 2010