TodayTownship approves new signal tower
Supervisors say cell phone tower will improve signal quality for residents without blighting the horizon.
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Article RatingA 195-foot tall mono-pole cell phone tower will soon be erected in an isolated area of Middlesex Township Park.
Township supervisors approved a land development plan Friday at the board’s workshop meeting. A construction date was not announced.
When finished, the cell phone tower will boost signal availability for township residents and township police.
Police Chief Barry Sherman said the tower will also be used to relay emergency county radio signals and boost the signal of back-up cell phones that officers carry throughout the township.
The township will co-host with the owner of the tower, Shentel, a telecommunications company, and place an emergency signal antenna on the mono-pole, township Supervisor Vic Stabile said.
“We’ll get signal,” Sherman said. “Whether or not the radios will pick up the signal is another issue.”
Police in Middlesex have been experiencing emergency radio signal drops since the county implemented the new system.
Sherman said his officers will just be driving down a road and the emergency radio signal will drop, causing a minimum 30-second reboot, assuming the radio acquires the emergency signal on the first attempt.
The township will pay no rent for placing the antenna on the cell phone tower, Stabile noted.
Shentel has agreed to a five-year lease with four renewals of five years each on the land where the structure is being placed. Base rent will be $1,000 per month and a 3 percent annual escalator clause has been agreed to, Stabile noted. Rent will not be charged until Shentel begins construction on the tower, set to be located on 100-by-100-foot parcel of land.
Supervisor Donald Geistwhite Jr. said the tower will be in the rear of the township park, well behind the recreation building. and should not blight the horizon with an eyesore.
Stabile noted that because of the township’s geography, having the tower in place will help boost signal to areas with little to no signal at present.
