The city of Palm Coast, Florida, is contemplating whether (and where) up to 10 new wireless communications towers should be installed in an effort to provide coverage in wireless service dead zones. With 29 potential building sites, the city has spent more than two years seeking expert advice about its issues with wireless communication—dating back to November 2015. This past May, Palm Coast contracted with New Jersey-based wireless infrastructure provider Diamond Communications to determine where its service gaps are and how they should be filled.
According to City Manager Jim Landon, Diamond Communications is playing a pivotal role in this project due to its size and technical nature. Staff from the company proposed a “wireless master plan” for Palm Coast to the City Council during a January 9 workshop. The plan assessed both coverage and potential real estate issues that could arise with installing new towers, in addition to creating new coverage maps based on the potential placement of these structures.
Diamond Communications suggested using monopole towers instead of lattice towers, which are more intrusive and obstructive. The company believes monopole towers would address major needs of the area’s service providers, while requiring the lowest amount of additional wireless tower sites. Having said that, Diamond’s presentation even noted how fixing Palm Coast’s wireless problems will (partly) be a matter of fixing the community’s ordinances.
“Staff collectively determined that the city’s current treatment of wireless development in the ordinance presents a significant obstacle to wireless carriers trying to improve their network quality in the city,” the presentation says. “Given constraints on carrier budgets and the widespread need for additional cellular sites, an ordinance with onerous and costly requirements and highly uncertain outcomes can encourage carriers to focus their priorities and resources on alternative areas with lower resistance.”
Of the 29 sites where these 10 new towers could be installed, all are on public land, with 24 being on city land. Diamond Communications has strongly urged Palm Coast to adjust its ordinances so a carrier wanting to place a monopole tower up to 150 feet in height on one of those parcels, won’t have to endure the lengthy process of proving the site’s suitability to the City Council. Instead, the provider could go straight to a streamlined administrative review process.
Regardless of what direction this ordeal goes, the Palm Coast City Council would have to sign off on a lease of the land, although the process would be simpler and less costly for carriers. Diamond Communications, meanwhile, has begun marketing to be courted by potential carriers wanting to bring their services to Palm Coast by either adding antennas to existing towers or building new structures.
