Meeting tonight on 75-foot tall cell towers that could go up in La Crosse

Company hopes to put up 13 towers on public land in city.

There’s a meeting tonight on a proposal to put up 13 cell towers in La Crosse that would each stand 75 feet tall.

“This would be by far taller than anything we would have currently in our neighborhoods,” La Crosse Mayor Tim Kabat said of California-based Mobilitie’s proposal.

Since the deal came across his desk, Kabat says he’s heard all kinds of questions about the towers, which he hopes the 5:30 p.m. public board meeting at City Hall will solve.

“(Hopefully) folks will be able to learn more and learn what the impacts might be,” Kabat said. “Is there a need? What about co-location? 

“If there’s something that’s close by where it could be co-located versus putting up a new 80-foot tall pole to do that.”

Kabat says, if the towers were going on private property, there wouldn’t be any oversight of them at all, according to state law. 

“Because it’s a public right of way, we have certain standards and certain processes,” Kabat said. “That’s really what this is.”

But Kabat added that it’s unclear whether the city could block the towers under state law, even if they were considered unacceptable.