A tower proposed by Tillman Infrastructure in Whites Crossing, MS is being challenged by national tower developer and local competitor SBA. Last Monday night, SBA representative and attorney Christian Strickland asked the Stone County Board of Supervisors to table the request for Tillman’s site plan approval and consider its denial, according to the Stone County Enterprise.
Strickland asked for a copy of the plan for the proposed site near the intersection of Hwy. 26 and City Bridge Road but was turned down by the Board, deeming it privileged information.
“I do not understand how that can be proprietary, considering they are asking for approval from a public body,” Strickland told the Enterprise. Citing a Mississippi state code and a 1993 attorney general’s opinion, the site plan, must be advertised in the local paper before gaining approval. SBA Communications spokesperson Lynne Hopkins responded to Inside Towers’ request for comment with the following quote:
“Because proposed duplicative towers are so unusual we do take steps to investigate, and often challenge, the construction of unnecessary new towers,” Hopkins said, “but of course only when and where existing structures would or already satisfy the co-location and network engineering requirements of our wireless customers. We often take these steps at the request of residents in the communities in which our towers are located who are very concerned about too many towers,” she said.
A local District 5 Supervisor, Dale Bond, said he believed the Tillman tower will be built and unnecessary research was only delaying it’s inevitable construction. Another Tillman tower is planned for Bond’s district. The Board tabled approval of another cell tower site plan for KeyPoint Communications on TV Tower Road in District 4.
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March 25, 2019
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