A company interested in building dozens of new cell phone towers near schools in Prince George’s County has called off those plans, according to WTOP.
Milestone Communications signed a deal with Prince George’s County Public Schools in 2011, in hopes of putting up cell phone towers near as many as 70 school properties.
But strong opposition from the community weighed in on the school district’s decision to cancel the project.
“Parents raised concerns about the placement of towers on the property, some citing health concerns and others just … worried about their property values,” Wesley Watts, the school district’s chief operating officer told WTOP.
“Milestone actually submitted the termination to us,” Watts said. “We were being difficult, if you will, in slowing down the process and allowing the community to speak. It’s taking us longer time to make decisions, things like that. So there were some things that the vendor didn’t like.”
A statement from the chief executive officer, Dr. Kevin Maxwell, reads in part, “We believe this decision is in the best interest of our schools, students and families.”
Milestone will continue to operate cell phone towers it has already built on school property at seven locations, Watts said. “We don’t have a cell tower provider to build cell towers on our property at this point, and quite frankly, I don’t think we’re looking for one either,” he added.
August 31, 2017
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