INDIANAPOLIS -- A group of neighborhood associations is opposing a plan to turn a utility pole into a cell phone tower near a north-side Indianapolis neighborhood, saying it would lower home values and set an undesirable precedent for other residential areas in the city.

Many of the Tanglewood neighborhood's residents also oppose the plan and say they'll oppose it at a public hearing next week.

"This is an established neighborhood on the north side, and ... (a tower) could really diminish property values," said one of the residents, Cindy Shamo.

Cell phone company T-Mobile is asking the local zoning board of appeals for a variance that would allow it to extend a utility pole's height by 15 feet and place cell phone equipment on top of it. The pole is just outside the entrance to the Tanglewood neighborhood near Allisonville Road and 70th Street.

Cell phone towers are generally away from Indianapolis neighborhoods. Some who live at Tanglewood say the cell phone equipment would be an eyesore.

Norman Pace, of the Marion County Alliance of Neighborhood Associations, said allowing the tower at the Tanglewood entrance would be bad news for other neighborhoods in the county.

"We allow one, it sets a negative precedent for the entire Marion County and anybody's yard," Pace told 6News' Renee Jameson.

Tanglewood resident Eileen Johnstone also opposes the plan.

"I think it's just an injustice for a company to come in and pay just a tiny little bit of money to use the city's property and our neighborhood for their profit," she said.

T-Mobile did not respond to 6News' request for comment.

The zoning board of appeals will hold a public hearing on the plan April 22 in the City-County Building's public assembly room. The hearing is scheduled to happen sometime during the board's meeting between 1 and 4 p.m.