At a design review board meeting in the coastal California city of Goleta on Aug. 11, residents both online and in person expressed concern about a new 50-foot water tower going up in town. It was too tall. It would block views. And it could even be dangerous to the health of those around it.
Except it wasn’t a real water tower. The wooden structure would masquerade as one type of infrastructure, when it was in fact another — an AT&T cell tower, cleverly disguised, that would improve service in an area rife with spotty reception.
Since these concealed cellphone towers were introduced in the early 1990s, the debate over their going up has played out countless times in towns across the U.S. Most often, they’re built anyway. A cell tower is installed somewhere in town, camouflaged as a pine tree, a flag pole or a water tower, or even hidden away in a building, often as mandated by city code. The concealment works only to a point and thus has been the subject of ridicule, especially online, with one comedian referring to them as “tree drag.”
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