PINEDALE – Placing a cell tower in Orcutt Park to boost the town’s phone and Internet services would be an insult to the woman who donated the land, according to one resident at Monday night’s Pinedale Town Council meeting.

Over the past two months, the town annexed an area of Orcutt Park into the city. At the final meeting in December, when the ordinance passed third reading at the Dec. 11 meeting, Mary Lynn Worl spoke, asking why it was annexed. She explained she had been out of town and did not see the changes until just before the meeting.

She was told by Mayor Bob Jones the area would be used for a cell tower.

Despite her objection, the council voted for the annexation.

She returned to the Jan. 8 council meeting. Council member Jim Brost said in light of her comments at the Dec. 11 meeting, he wanted to discuss placement of the tower. Council members considered options, including moving the tower further north. However, moving the tower would take away a direct line of sight for a portion of the town.

There was also discusion of placing the tower closer to the Pinedale Medical Clinic, especially once the clinic is moved to the newly built hospital and the helipad would no longer be used.

During the discussion, Worl got up to speak.

She presented the council members with the original restrictive covenants signed when the land was donated by Crowell Orcutt Dean in 1993. The covenants outline, “The land should be used for a permanent geological and historical interpretive site to accomplish the following:

• Honor the original geologists who made record of the unique glacial geology of the area.

• Preserve a small remnant of the terminal moraine.

• Design and construct suitable interpretive signs, exhibits, buildings and other improvements to explain the geological and historical significance of the area.

• Provide a public area suitable for the use of visitors.”

“Crowell was an outstanding person. She was energetic, highly intelligent, inquisitive, exceptionally organized, and very thoughtful and generous,” Worl said.

“When she donated the land for the Bull Lake Terminal Moraine Park, it was done for the purpose of preserving a small portion of the moraine for the historic and scientific reasons – it certainly wasn’t done as a tax write-off,” Worl read from a prepared statement. “I’m insulted that the Town of Pinedale is attempting to circumnavigate the restrictive covenants associated with this park.”

Jones assured her there were other locations under consideration and nothing has been decided. However, he said the council had turned down a cell tower proposal in town, and the town needs to get going.

He added the hope is if the city owns one tower, it could have all service providers using that one tower instead of individual service providers wanting to own or and build multiple towers.

Also during the meeting, the council went into a closed executive session for the purpose of discussing personnel and litigation. No action was taken following the executive session.