A proposed cell tower in Clark would now be nearly 400 feet if constructed, after the Park County Commissioners unanimously approved a roughly 25% increase to the previously approved height for the approved special use permit.

Bridger Tower was approved to build its cell tower no more than 399 feet, 11 inches tall — it has proposed a 395-foot tower — in order to add two microwave dishes on the tower's highest reaches.

Last June, just a few months after Wapiti residents showed up en masse to oppose a nearly 200 foot cell tower in the middle of the valley, a request by Bridger Tower Corporation to build a 310-foot tower was approved by the commissioners without objection on a tract of rangeland owned by Switchback Ranch.

Assistant Planning and Zoning Director Kim Dillivan said in June that Verizon had already expressed interest in being on the tower. There are spots for three other carriers as well.

The land is just south of the intersection of Wyo. Highway 296 and Wyo. Highway 120N and surrounded mostly by ag land and vacant residential.

The updated SUP plan shows six guy wires at varying heights on the tower will be anchored to each of the three 256 ground connection points for a total of 18 guy wires.

The increase in approved height to just under 400 feet is actually the second time the company has upped the proposed height.

A 199 foot tower was previously approved by SUP in the same spot in 2018, Dillivan said, but the work was never done and the SUP was voided, necessitating a new application.