Visitors and residents to Zephyr Heights may notice a unique piece of real estate that blends in so well with the hillside they might strain to see it. But cell phone users may hear the difference.

Coming out of its buyout of AT&T, Cingular Wireless plans to install a "mono pine" - a cell phone transmitting tower that looks like a tree - on Lookout Road. The pole is expected to be installed next year.

The whole idea is to improve cellular phone coverage, which many people complain has been lackluster in the area. The Lake Tahoe region has always been a bit cell-phone-challenged, with numerous blackout areas resulting from the topography of the mountains.

Cingular hired a Pleasanton environmental consultant to work with the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency to lessen the impact of the transmitter. A tree is the best bet. Photo:4228174,right;

"TRPA is picky on what they expect, but we're trying to get coverage where there is none," consultant Holly Moore said. "The hills and trees are in the way, and some sites can only go so far. This site should improve coverage."

Moore pinpointed a one-mile radius off Highway 50 along the beaches of Zephyr Cove as an area deemed to receive much better coverage.

But cell coverage is no exact science.

TRPA spokeswoman Julie Regan reported that her agency is still gathering information from the applicant, which may turn in the permit request by the end of July.

Cingular Wireless ran a legal notice in the Tahoe Daily Tribune and wrapped up a 30-day comment period this week.

Motorists and pedestrians may have already noticed a few mono pines in El Dorado County. One stands out as a fake tree off Highway 50 just northeast of Placerville. Closer to home, another on the corner of Pioneer Trail and Washoan bears a better resemblance to a tree.

"It really mixes in with the scenery," Helen Osborne said, pointing out the pole from her yard across from Pioneer Trail.

The Zephyr Heights proposal isn't the first time residents have seen transmitter sites in their area.

More than 70 years old, the U.S. Forest Service fire lookout tower was wired by SBC as a site a few years ago. Now that SBC is one parent company of Cingular, it sold the equipment to Team Mobile with the agreement Cingular customers could also use the site for the next four years.

The two network sites are located in a region deemed a historic area.

The site's property owner is listed as Zephyr Cove Properties Inc., a company led by longtime Glenbrook resident Harvey Whittemore. He threatened to sue the Forest Service a few years ago for failing to maintain the easement at Nevada's last remaining fire lookout. SBC pays the Forest Service $2,600 annually to lease the 14-square-foot structure on one acre.

Moore said all leases vary in rates.