05-25-05 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

MINUTES CITY COUNCIL MAY 25, 2005 WIRELESS accommodated via co-location of the proposed antenna on an existing tower. Mark Holm, American Tower, appeared before the Council representing New Cingular Wireless in its proposal Co construct a monopole communications tower at 3250 Spivice Street which is owned by Hillcrest Development. Holm explained that Cingular Wireless recently merged with AT & T Wireless, therefore, Cingular is moving into the Twin Cities' market. Holm noted the City Administrator's report dated May 20~h relative to the call received from Mr. Desmond Chan representing Cingular Wireless and Chan's comments that as a result of the merger there appears to be redundancy in antenna locations. Chan had indicated that as a result Cingular was looking at terminating exiting leases where they could not secure more favorable lease terms, i.e. the lease for the City's water tower. Holm indicated Chat there may be tower site redundancies in markets where both Cingular and AT & T co-existed previous to the merger. However, this is not the case in the Twin Cities' market. Holm presented a grid showing the existing Cingular antenna/tower locations, noting that the City water tower location is sh~ategically located in the center of 355E, 694, Highway 36, and Highway 61. Holm indicated Chat it is his understanding that Mr. Chan was representing a 3`d party that was assigned to make calls to determine if existing lease agreements could be re-negotiated. Holm felt it was an aggressive business tactic and commented that the timing could not have been worse given Cingular's application for a new tower location. Holm indicated that Cingular needs to maintain the existing water tower antenna location as well as add the new tower to improve its coverage area in the Rice Street/694 area as well as increase its call capacity. Blesener suggested that in looking at the tower location grid, it could be possible that Cingular would eliminate the water tower antenna location. Holm again indicated that Cingular needs to improve coverage in the Rice Street/694 area as well as increase capacity. Holm indicated that it is not unusual to have towers in close proximity to one another, noting that Qwest has three sites in the Little Canada area that are within a 3 to 4 mile area. Blesener noted that under the City's ordinance, the first step is to determine if there is a co-location opportunity for a new antenna. Blesener noted that the Ramsey County site on Rice Street may not be a good location (existing MN DOT tower) given the impact of future redevelopment of the property as well as the impact of the reconstruction of the Rice Street bridge on the site. Blesener next noted the existing tower on the Donovan site. 3