The view from Tara Bonner's airy family room, with its tall brick fireplace and abundance of windows, couldn't be more stunning. The leaves on the trees seem almost within reach.

Her custom four-bedroom home, on a cul-de-sac where deer prance across the street and children play in sprawling yards, is picture-perfect.

Bonner chose to live in Tivoli, an upscale community nestled off Route 202 in Upper Marlboro, because its homes have woodsy views and spacious interiors.

But after receiving a certified letter that said a cellphone company wants to build a 100-foot-tall tower in her small development of estate homes, Bonner has wondered what effect the proposed structure would have on the community. She and her husband, Allen, plan to retire in Tivoli, but now she has reservations.

"My first thought was my son," said Bonner, who has a 5-year-old and questions whether the tower would have any long-term health effects on residents, such as cancer.

The Bonners aren't the only ones concerned about the visual, environmental and monetary impact the tower could have on their development, where home values are about $700,000.

Petitions have been circulating through Tivoli, and letters have been sent to elected officials, including Prince George's County Council member Samuel H. Dean (D-Mitchellville), Del. Aisha N. Braveboy (D-Prince George's) and Rep. Albert R. Wynn (D).

The cellphone company, T-Mobile, applied to the Prince George's County Telecommunications Transmission Facility Coordinating Committee to build the tower on private land on Old Largo Road. But the committee has not made a final recommendation.

Stan E. Wildesen, chairman of the committee, said that because of Federal Communications Commission rules, the county has no authority to deny T-Mobile's decision to build a tower on the property "as long as they comply with local zoning codes."

Wildesen said the committee is scheduled to discuss the application at a meeting this month, but it will probably be pushed back.

"I'm not pleased at all," said Madaline Booker, who bought her house in 2003. "Our property values are going to go way down. It's an unsightly thing."

Placement of cellphone towers, which have popped up increasingly in suburban communities as the demand for wireless technology has grown, is often controversial because of the potential to ruin vistas and raise health concerns.

James R. Michal, a lawyer with Jackson and Campbell, a District-based firm representing T-Mobile, said the cellphone company is expanding its network in the Washington-Baltimore area and has few options to consider in locating its newest tower.

T-Mobile has signed a contract with the owner of property on Old Largo Road adjacent to Tivoli.

Under the plan, the tower, also known as a monopole, would rise high above Tara Bonner's three-acre property.

"I really don't think I would have moved here if I would have known this would have happened," she said.

Because the subdivision is small and the tower is so tall, every home would probably have a view of it.

"It's visual harassment," said Percie Rutherford, who has collected more than 120 signatures from Tivoli residents opposing the tower.

At a recent meeting with about two dozen homeowners to answer questions about the selection process, Michal said the tower could be made to look like a flag pole.

"All the residential person would see is a flag of the United States, and we could put a gold ball on top," he said.

"It's outrageous," Bonner said about the flagpole. "Camouflaging does not alleviate its presence."

Michal said that he would like to find another location for the tower but that T-Mobile is "at a standstill." He said the state has been "indifferent" about the idea of building a tower on farmland across the street from Tivoli that the University of Maryland owns.