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Issues Surrounding Installation of a Cell Tower?
But They Look Terrible as Trees asks: "My company has been approached by a developer who wants lease a section of our property to install a cell phone tower. The tower would be somewhere between 50 and 110 meters tall and would be located about 250 meters from our main building.
I am curious what types of interference and other issues anyone may have noticed having a cell phone tower in the vicinity of their facility, such as disruption of 802.11, VHF radio, aesthetic issues, complaints from neighbors, or truly bizarre plots. Has anyone built their own tower and then leased space to providers on the tower?"
At my plant there is a large cell tower in the back corner of our lot. We are 250-300 meters away from the tower, and experience no interference from the tower.
It is understood that the cell phone company pays a hefty sum of money every month to my company because we own the property.
I think the lease just covers or offsets our power and water bill.
"Fortunately, I'm adhering to a very strict drug regimen to keep my mind limber..."
I am an RF Engineer, and I provide consulting services to the wireless industry including expert testimony supporting tower placement, interference analysis, RF exposure reports, and other such studies.
Interference will likely be a non-issue, but you don't have to take my word for it. You can ask the provider to supply an intermod study that includes any equipment you have concerns about. You will need to give them the location, make, model, and frequency of the equipment you have questions about.
Aesthetic issues / neighbors - this is really a matter of location. I personally think that most towers don't look too bad, certainly much better then power lines at least. You really won't know how big these issues will be until the public meeting. In some places (like the meeting I will be testifying at next week) a small tower is a huge issue, in other places no one cares. You probably have a feel for the community you are in.
You might have some say in how the tower looks. I say might because there are almost always other landowners that would be quite happy to receive the rent that you would otherwise receive. If you try to dictate too much the company could go elsewhere. At the very least it is reasonable to ask for landscaping and fencing that hides the base station equipment. Asking for a stealth tower will only work if no one else will lease space to them, or if the municipality 'demands' it. Stealth towers cost an arm, leg and three vital organs (and have maintenance issues), so they are seldom used if the carrier can avoid it.
It is very important to know if the developer has carriers that are already interested or if he is developing on speculation. Building on speculation usually looks bad to a zoning board (rightfully so) and will engender hostile feelings if there is any community opposition (much more then a carrier supported build).
I hope that helps some. If you have any more specific questions post them as responses to this post and I will try to get to them before the end of the week.
--- There are two kinds of people, those who accept dogmas and know it, and those who accept dogmas and don't know it
Depending where the property is located, the complaints about aesthetics, etc. can range from none at all in some areas, particularly if there are other broadcast, cellular, and public service radio towers in the area, to dealbreaking opposition near historic districts,upscale rural and suburban neighborhoods, or near other natural or manmade attractions.
As far as health issues go, the only possible health issue I can reasonably see is that the tower crashes down on you during an extreme windstorm, and proper engineering will mitigate this risk to the point of being negligible. The amount of RF transmitted by a cell site is on a par with a police radio or other mobile radio service. The fact that the antennas are located a couple hundred feet up in the air means that in reality, that police radio in the cop car behind you is pumping more RF into you than the cell site you are directly under.
The fact is, a properly located cell site will improve coverage for its customers, and can actually reduce exposure to RF. How can that be? Most modern cell phones adjust the power level of their transmitters based on the quality of the link they have to the best receive site in the area. I actually notice that my cell phone's battery needs recharging more if you are using it in an area of poor coverage, even if just in standby mode. A good cell site nearby reduces the power that the handset needs to maintain the link, reducing RF exposure to the user.
As far as interference to services you may be using inside your facility, you might want to find out from the cell site operator what frequencies, power levels, and duty cycles they will be transmitting at. This applies not only for cell phones, but for other services that may piggyback onto the tower as well, a tower in a good location will often have antennas strung up the side of it as well. These other radio services might include paging, public safety radio services, amateur radio repeaters and digipeaters, FM broadcast radio transmitters, etc. If you do sensitive testing of radars or something of that ilk, it would pay you to know what is up there.
In conclusion, I wouldn't be afraid to do it, as long as there is nothing up on the tower that would directly interfere with what you are doing now. Leasing space for cell sites is a profitable business around here, the local Volunteer Fire Dept receives about $12,000 a year to lease a 30 by 30 foot space to Verizon, and this is a very common arrangement. Besides the money, you might be able to write the lease to get services of your own on the tower, such as dispatch radios if you are in a service business, set up data links to remote offices, etc. Finally, another benefit might be the ability to use the services directly. Reliable 2 way radio services and WiFi internet access provided on that tower could actually enhance your operation. You may be able to make an arrangement for discounts on these services they may provide.