TOWN STAFF REPORT RECCOMENDATIONS
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Discussion regarding Cell Town Coverage (Wade Carroll)
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STAFF: Wade Carroll, Town Manager
BACKGROUND:
During the Council Meeting on September 25, 2023 Town staff gave a presentation on possible solutions to poor cell signal in the Town of Westlake. At that time Staff was instructed to work with AT&T to get pricing to the solutions that were presented by AT&T during the meeting. Since that time AT&T have been working on pricing and have come up with the total costs associated with the different projects. (see attached) Due to the lofty infrastructure and annual maintenance costs it will be necessary to find private partnerships to move forward with such a project.
Further background:
In September of 2020 Vertical Bridge presented a proposal to the Town to lease 3,125 square feet of property adjacent to the fire station to build a cell tower. Vertical Bridge is one of the contractors used by Verizon to build Verizon towers but they have commitments from AT&T and T-Mobile and Verizon for the placement of antennas on the proposed tower. It is well known that we have poor cellular coverage in portions of Westlake in several areas including Vaquero, Granada, Westlake Ranch and Quail Hollow. Vertical Bridge gave a presentation to Council in September of 2022 at which time Council approved the Town Manager to execute the lease agreement with Vertical Bridge. The lease was executed in April of 2022 and amendments were made and accepted by staff in July of 2022. Amendments were documented by letter from Troy Meyer Dated July 27, 2022. The lease agreement requires Vertical Bridge to obtain a zoning change to allow for the cell tower at the Fire Station at which time the lease will begin for a period of 9, 5 years terms for a price of $13,200 a year. Pricing increases 7.5% each year of the contract for the life of the contract. For each antenna after the second antenna the town will receive an additional $300 a month. Documentation shows that the tower has room for only 4 antennas in the “lease area”. A zoning case has not been brought before the Planning and Zoning meeting to date however staff has heard a request from Vertical Bridge to gather necessary information to apply for a zoning case. The only factor that could cancel this agreement is the zoning not being approved.
DISCUSSION:
In looking through all the documents and presentations provided, staff is not convinced that the proposed 120ft. cell tower at the fire station, although it will improve cell carrier’s networks, is the correct or complete solution solves cellular coverage issues in Westlake. Staff has recently met with both Verizon and AT&T to voice this concern and have asked both carriers to develop a plan to solve Westlake’s cellular coverage issues. This could be the installation and use of micro cells, small cell towers, or a mixture of both a large cell tower and micro cells. AT&T is working on a propagation map that will show signal strength throughout town and will be proposing a solution. This could include a public private partnership to ensure that Westlake has good cellular signal throughout Town.
Staff is waiting on a response from AT&T and Verizon on this issue.
The current lease agreement for $12,000 a year plus $300 a month for each additional antenna after the second (AT&T and Verizon being the primary two) gives Vertical Bridget the rights to build and maintain a 120 ft. stealth cell tower at the fire station. The average contract with cellular carriers for antennas is a minimum of $30,000 a year
FISCAL IMPACT:
Cost of the project is dependent on many factors including tower types and numbers but range from $1,753,333 to $9,966,667 in infrastructure and installation costs. This does not include annual maintenance. There would be minimal cost recover for renting space to AT&T and currently they do not have this project budgeted for approval of leasing costs.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends finding private partnerships to offset the costs of infrastructure and not moving forward with the project if AT&T is not a partner in infrastructure or annual maintenance costs at some level.
ATTACHMENT(S):
Lease agreement
Letter approving amendment to the agreement
Vertical Bridge Presentation
Pricing from AT&T
TOWN COUNCIL ACTION/OPTIONS:
1) Motion to approve
2) Motion to amend with the following stipulations (please state stipulations in motion)
3) Motion to table
4) Motion to deny