A perpetually hard-pressed volunteer firehouse nestled here among some of the nation's most luxurious homes thought its prayers were answered four years ago when a wireless phone company proposed putting a tower on its property where a flagpole stands.
While putting a tower inside an existing structure can add to the initial cost ($150,000 is a common estimate for the undisguised version), the savings and the good will gained in avoiding a zoning fight can tip the balance.
In small towns, church steeples are often the highest point for miles and are actually "among the best places to put a cellular tower," according to Travis Larson, a spokesman for the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association.
"We have put a cell tower on every corner we can find in the island of Manhattan.
The chances, for example, of a new freeway entrance being constructed in the middle of the community, and thereby diminishing the value of your home, are negligible as are the chances that your neighbors will put a radio tower in their backyard.
This year's winner, designed by David Benjamin of New York architects The Living, is, simply put, a mushroom tower.
According to one legend, artisans could not put a corner tower back together after it was dismantled for renovations in the early Qing dynasty, and it was only rebuilt after the intervention of carpenter-immortal Lu Ban.
The move comes as a broadcasters' group, the Metropolitan Television Alliance, has received strong indications from New Jersey officials that they would like to put an antenna tower along the waterfront in Jersey City.
