It has been over a year now, and the area near Harvard’s historic Hildreth House still lacks adequate digital coverage. The Board of Selectmen in the Massachusetts town of Harvard have sought proposals to address the problem, but as The Harvard Press reports, there have been no applicants asking to take on the project.
Town Administrator Tim Bragan led a discussion on the issue, seeking feedback from fellow Board members and Isotrope LLC co-founder David Maxson. Isotrope LLC is the wireless consulting firm that helped the town officials study the issue last fall. All parties agreed that the lack of signal strength in the area posed a potential safety risk that could be addressed with a cell tower. In revisiting the issue, Maxson suggested that the financial strictures chosen by the Select Board may be deterring bidders from wanting to participate.
Two years back, the town conducted a study and eliminated several possible tower locations, settling on a site near Hildreth House as the best option. The original RFP called for a base rent of $50,000. This was later lowered to $25,000 and still has not attracted any takers. Maxson said that an unnamed tower provider told him that even at the lower rent, it would take multiple tenants and several years for the project to break even, a prospect that that particular provider did not find tempting according to The Harvard Press.
The Board spit-balled a number of suggestions, including a better-worded RFP. When it is reissued, the RFP will be reworked to include a lower base rent, though that amount has not yet been determined. Suggestions also included “pre-zoning” the site to put it in “move-in” condition for cell tower construction. The new RFP will seek to tighten up height and zoning requirements so that these issues are settled right up front and do not represent a gamble for a potential bidder.
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