The wireless industry has done a good job of creating demand for their business and consumer services. Unfortunately, unless the laws of physics are repealed, more services, more competitors and smaller phones will require additional tower sites to deliver these services to the user. Add to that the recent governmental skirmish over insuring that wireless customers have access to 911 services, and you have a NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) situation of growing proportions.

According to industry insiders, thousands of transmission sites will be constructed and thousands more upgraded across the nation as the wireless industry readies their networks for the growth provided by new services. Municipalities that have wrestled with wireless issues know that a fairly comprehensive tower ordinance is a good step in a coordinated effort to manage the process of tower placement. As with any issue that involves technology, change is a constant and your ability to adapt to it and predict the future is limited by the information and experience that your board has on the subject. A flexible and well thought-out plan for location of towers in your municipality is a good i nvestment of your time.

Consider hiring a qualified engineering company to assist you in developing your plan if you are located in a economic growth area or near a major thoroughfare. Such companies can also help in updating your ordinance with recent developments, as well as help you understand where and why major carriers are considering construction. Does your tower plan take into account the needs of homeland security communications for your municipality and the ability to secure the tower sites in case of emergency? Having a plan may also help when public outcry creates problems for the tower approval process.

In addition to an up-to-date ordinance, an understanding of the ways of the wireless industry will help you understand where they are headed. In most markets, wireless is a highly competitive enterprise, with two or more carriers competing for the business and residential customers available. Capital costs of deploying wireless services are the largest cost that carriers face. Their operating staffs, reduced in large numbers by layoffs, are constantly looking for ways to trim costs while covering their most populated areas. These factors lead to decision-making that may not be in your best interest.

Several municipalities in the Northeastern US have created a process that allows for proper technical review of the expansion plans of telecommunications carriers. Applications made by telecommunications carriers are reviewed by a third-party telecommunications engineering firm, with considerable experience in the industry, and the appropriate report is provided to the municipality as part of the application review. Fees charged by the third-party firm are passed through to the telecommunications carrier as part of the planning process, as specified in their ordinance.

Assuming that your goal is to minimize the number of towers in your community while at the same time maximizing wireless services in accordance with the residential and business demand for those services, when your local wireless carrier comes to you with an expansion plan, there are some logical questions that you must ask. Your carrier representative has likely done a study of the local geography and included most of the sites where facilities could be placed to reach signal propagation objectives. What are these locations? Are there locations where your township can provide assistance, in exchange for insuring that future goals of your tower plan, residents and board are met?

If there are sites, other than the one proposed, on what basis were they rejected? Your tower ordinance can help carriers identify appropriate reasons, but they may include several different types. Among these may be a lack of structural capability to safely support the new facilities, difficulty in achieving the design’s height objective, environmental or historic preservation concerns, or problems negotiating favorable leasing terms with the owner.

If the site under consideration is new construction, there are a myriad of regulations including those of the FAA, PennDOT Bureau of Aviation, DEP, Historic Preservation and others, which should be covered by your tower ordinance or your zoning and planning process. Often overlooked are the business concerns related to the construction. Making sure that you take time to consider the business concerns will save time and money for your municipality down the road. Will the newly constructed facility be structurally capable of co-location of multiple carriers and services? One carrier’s success usually begets more carriers and more services. How far into the future has the customer growth of the carrier been projected? Have they taken into consideration local growth of the area and proposed commercial expansion that may affect their ability to provide quality service? Information that you can provide may be very helpful in justifying the right design and facility construction to their management team.

The relatively recent developments in creating “stealth” installations that help towers and facilities blend with their surroundings may be worth reviewing as part of your tower plan. Costs added for these types of installations must be borne by the carrier, so support from the tower ordinance may be necessary here as well.

One thing is sure. Wireless facilities will need to expand as business and personal usage of wireless communications grow. A comprehensive tower plan, help from a qualified engineering firm and an awareness of the changes in the wireless industry will help you plan for the inevitable expansion of the services to your residents and businesses.

Todd Stiles is Chief Operating Officer of Strategic Communications Services, Inc.. SCS has over 80 years combined experience in working with most of the major national and regional wireless carriers in the US and with companies and municipalities that require consulting assistance. SCS also provides consulting, design, construction and management and ownership of tower sites around the Northeast.

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