The tallest “pine tree” in Manteca is going to be “planted” along Button Avenue.

Verizon is seeking permission to erect an 88-foot cell tower disguised as a pine tree in the 100 block of Button Avenue within a small industrial park.

It’s just down the street from Manteca’s tallest palm tree — a cell tower designed to look like a palm tree behind the Manteca Christian Worship Center on Button Avenue near where it intersects with Cottage Avenue.

The pine tree is also several blocks away from the city’s tallest clock tower that was put in place earlier this year to disguise a cell tower on the southwest corner of Commerce Avenue and East Yosemite Avenue behind the McDonald’s.

One cell carrier was prepared to erect an 80-foot flag pole doing double duty as a cell tower on Wetmore Street at the city’s corporation yard until it was determined the garrison-style flag would interfere with municipal emergency communications transmitters that were also being placed on the tower. It instead went up as an oil derrick-style tower.

The Verizon tower is planned for the northeast corner of a storage area of an existing auto repair shop at 178 Button Avenue that is owned by Gerry Cargile.

The cell tower will be screened by branches of the fake pine tree fashioned from a monopole. A pine tree design was chose to blend in with existing pine trees on nearby properties.

Disguising cell towers whenever possible is keeping with a directive by the City Council to staff that they didn’t want to see stark cell towers popping up over Manteca if it could be avoided.