Tempe's Police and Fire departments use radio dishes sitting on Tempe Butte near downtown. The three dishes transmit information to and from dishes on Bell Butte, on the west side of I-10 near Tempe Diablo Stadium. Original Article New condos may hamper police radio Katie Nelson The Arizona Republic Nov. 2, 2005 12:00 AM Centerpoint developers want their downtown condos to stand tall at 30 stories, but the proposed height increase could compromise Tempe's safety. The city has determined the proposed towers' height could block police and fire radio waves. The building cluster could also shield officer or firefighter transmissions to or from north Tempe when they start using a new system next year. Both problems are fixable, said David Heck, who has analyzed the communications network by simulating where the microwave dishes shoot their transmissions and how that meshes with building heights. But it's something that needs to be addressed because Tempe's Police and Fire departments use radio dishes sitting on Tempe Butte near downtown. The three dishes transmit information to and from dishes on Bell Butte, on the west side of I-10 near Tempe Diablo Stadium. If Centerpoint were allowed to build condos at 30 stories, one of the buildings would block the line-of-site transmissions, Heck said, hampering emergency radio communication within the city and with other departments throughout the Valley. Moving the dishes and their fiber optic cables to the top of one of Centerpoint's tallest towers could prevent the radio communication breaks, Heck said. The city estimates the move would cost $58,000. When Centerpoint developers first proposed their mix of condos, retail and parking in 1985, it was supposed to stand 225 feet tall. Even then it would have loomed 39 feet over Tempe's highest building - Sun Devil Stadium. Since then the downtown development at Sixth Street and Mill Avenue crept up to 186 stories, then to 258. City planners are taking Centerpoint's 30-story (343 feet) proposal to City Council on Thursday but the radio transmission issue - among others - could stand in its way. Other potential problems include: Sewage. The existing pipelines may not be able to handle the new use demands during late stages of the project, since the development would create 788 new condos. City planners are recommending the Water Utilities Department do a study to determine if that's true and what would need to be done to the sewage system to fix the problem. Parking. A city traffic analysis has determined the roads could handle the extra population the additional floors would bring, but where they would park their cars could be an issue even though the new height includes more below-ground parking.