By Pat Caldwell
The Enterprise
JORDAN VALLEY — The poles are going up but no one is talking about whether the Jordan Valley area might soon get cell phone service.
The community is one of the remaining locations in Malheur County without cell service, affecting everything from emergency services to parents trying to keep track of their kids.
Two monopole towers used for wireless or microwave communications are planned for the Jordan Valley area.
The firm proposing the towers – EcoSite – wouldn’t give details about the towers.
The Malheur County Planning Department knows about the towers but isn’t sure what they will be used for.
Neither does the Federal Communications Commission.
Typically, monopole towers are designed to hold wireless and microwave communication equipment.
EcoSite plans to build one tower near Arock and another near Jordan Valley. Both towers are on private land.
“What we do is we build towers. We have a client and then we make these towers available to any other carrier that would like to go on them,” said Colleen Carroll of EcoSite.
Carroll said the building process for the towers is still in its early stages.
“We haven’t even got into zoning yet and we have to do a survey, do environmental work,” Carroll said.