T-Mobile installing temporary cell tower in Norwalk

T-Mobile is installing a temporary wireless telecommunications tower after one of its nearby cell towers was slated for demolition due to work on the 5 Freeway. The 60-ft. tower will be installed in the Comfort Inn parking lot at 12512 Pioneer Blvd.

T-Mobile's current cell tower is located on the same property, which also houses a Sizzler restaurant and strip mall, but the property is slated for demolition as part of a project to widen the 5 Freeway.

"The proposed wireless telecommunications facility will be placed near the southwest corner of the existing property, located on the portion of land (that) will remain after the widening project," community development director Kurt Anderson wrote in a city staff report.

The temporary tower features four panel antennas and one microwave dish mounted on a 60-ft. high wooden monopole.

Its equipment and utility cabinets will be hidden from view inside an equipment shelter trailer. T-Mobile said the temporary tower is necessary provide network coverage to its customers in the local neighborhood.

The tower will be remotely monitored. If any problems are reported at the tower site, T-Mobile agreed to dispatch a technician within 24 hours.