Indian River Shores on Florida’s East Coast has invested $15,000 in an independent consultant to tell city council members how tall a tower should be to meet the town’s communications needs. Some 3,500 people live in the area and the town was originally prepared to approve a 50-foot tower but council members are now open to permitting construction of a tower up to 135-feet if it is determined there is serious deficiency in cell coverage, reports the TC Palm. Their other concern is building a tower capable of addressing the town’s public safety needs.
“The issue is to get the best possible service,” said Mayor Brian Barefoot. “And we need to build the tower in a location that is the least offensive to the largest number of people.” The council’s action last week Barefoot said, did not approve a specific tower, location or which carriers would provide service, the newspaper reported.
“All this ordinance does is gives us the ability to consider, and ultimately approve, something that meets our specific criteria,” he said. “Just because the ordinance is in place, it doesn’t mean the cell tower would get built.”
Some residents said they didn’t want towers as high as 135 feet in the town, and urged the council to put off any decisions until more information about possible locations was available. But others want something done soon.
“We’re at a stage now where I would like to accomplish this in my lifetime,” Councilman Tom Slater said told TC Palm. “We don’t want to compromise aesthetics and we don’t want to compromise performance, but we need to get to the fastest, best solution.”
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