The Stroudsburg School Board heard a proposal last week to put nine T-Mobile antennas on Stroudsburg Middle School’s roof, according to the Pocono Record.
T-Mobile site acquisition specialist Christopher Miliotich and radio frequency engineer Archie Dickson told the board the antennas would be on three steel-frame sleds. Each 42-pound sled would hold three 11-pound antennas, the Record said.
That many antennas would be needed to provide the most effective directional cell phone signal coverage at that particular location, Miliotich and Dickson indicated.
The steel-frame sleds are built to be lifted and carried and likely wouldn’t damage the roof, Miliotich and Dickson said, adding that T-Mobile would repair any damage. The antennas would be connected by fiber optic cable to a radio cabinet by the school’s loading dock area, the Record reported.
T-Mobile would lease the roof space from the school district for $1,500 a month. That monthly payment would increase by 10 percent each year after the first five years, according to the lease agreement terms. The lease agreement would be for five years with four, five-year extensions and one four-year extension, for a total of 29 years, along with a 60-day-advance cancellation option.
Dickson told the Record, T-Mobile is running out of suitable locations for cell towers, which is why antennas on rooftops and other high places have become the alternative. He and Miliotich told the board the antennas would leave enough space on Stroudsburg Middle School’s roof for other uses.
T-Mobile’s proposal is under consideration.
December 18, 2017
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