QUILCENE – Verizon Wireless cellular reception in Quilcene is spotty, at best, but that may change in about six months.
The cell phone company has applied to the Jefferson County Department of Community Development for a permit to erect a 180-foot communications tower on Penny Creek Road.
Dropped calls are now commonplace in the Quilcene area.
“We have coverage there. It just needs to be enhanced,” Georgia Taylor, the Bellevue-based Verizon Wireless spokeswoman.
“We’re always looking to build-out our coverage. It’s kind of like connecting the dots.”
Taylor said the tower is expected to be functional in five to six months.
Since U.S. Highway 101 runs through Quilcene, the community of about 1,200 seemed an appropriate place to beef up cellphone reception, Taylor said.
It’s estimated that about 2 million vehicles per year – many of which carry tourists – travel through Quilcene on Highway 101.
The tower would allow Verizon subscribers traveling the highway to talk uninterrupted from Brinnon to Discovery Bay, Taylor said.
The application submitted in January proposes the erection of a $700,000 metal lattice tower with antenna panels and a 12-foot by 30-foot equipment shelter.
The Penny Creek site is owned by the state Department of Natural Resources and zoned commercial forest.
The conditional-use permit allows for public comments to be made by interested parties through 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
Comments can be written to the Department of Community Development Review Division, 621 Sheridan St., Port Townsend, WA 98368, or phoned to 360-385-2335.
The application requires a state environmental review that will be headed by Resources.
The Federal Communications Commission must also sign off on the application.
There will be no public hearing for the proposal, unless the final permit decision and/or the Resources environmental review is appealed.
Verizon Wireless spends about $540 million annually to enhance coverage statewide, Taylor said.
