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Century Approves New 300 Foot Cell Tower For AT&T, Possibly Other Carriers

Cell service can be nonexistent in many parts of Century, regardless of carrier. But it may get better in the coming year or so, at least for customers of AT&T.

Monday night, the Century Town Council approved leasing a small portion of a town park for a new 300-foot tall cell tower.

At a January meeting, the council not reach a consensus on a location to allow construction of the new tower, but the mayor found a location that worked out to be agreeable to all involved.

Motions to approve a variance and lease property by the library or the town’s maintenance shop to a tower company both failed to even receive a second during the January 19 council meeting. Mayor Ben Boutwell then went to work with Diamond Towers to find another location that would alleviate council concerns, provide ongoing income for the town and provide much needed improved cellular coverage.

“If our town is going to progress, we need the coverage. I was not going to let that die,” he said.

Monday night, the council approved a five-year lease with options out to 40 years with Diamond Towers for an AT&T tower on a small parcel of land in the town’s Anthony Pleasant Park off West Highway 4. It’s small area tucked away essentially at the back of the park.

“It will be a great spot,” Boutwell said. “It will be out of the way on a big area back there that’s never been used. It’s away from residents, surrounded by a wooded area so you would not see the base. It’s not too far from Highway 29 and is still in the area where AT&T needed it.”

Diamond Towers will lease the parcel at $1,000 total for one year with an optional extension for one more year at $1,000. Once a tower is constructed, Diamond’s lease will increase to $1,500 per month for at least five years, with another $500 per month due for additional cellular providers collocated on the tower. There are annual options for slight increases.

Tower Plan Fails In January

Two parcels owned by the town were previously under consideration for the tower site:

• A 0.698 acre lot directly south of the Century Branch Library. The tower would be located less than 50 feet from the library property, which is owned by Escambia County.
• A 0.68 acre area located on the northeast corner of the town’s maintenance building property on Alger Road, just across the railroad tracks from the playground at Showalter Park.

“I would not want a tower in my neighborhood,” council member Sandra McMurray Jackson said of the Alger Road location at the council’s last meeting. “They don’t want it on Alger Road…I’m going to respect those residents.” She said Alger Road residents were concerned about possible ill effects to their health, and she said there would be no changing their minds.

Council President Luis Gomez said January 19 that he did not think the tower belonged along Highway 29, between the library and a commercial building he owns. He said that while he personally does not want it located on Highway 29, it is important to consider that someone might want to locate a business on the property in the future.

“We need cellphone service in Century,” Gomez said. “No one wants to put a business in Century with the stagnant service we have.”

A motion by council member James Smith to locate the tower at the town’s shop on Alger Road and a motion by Jackson to locate it on Highway 29 both failed at the last council meeting to reach a vote due to a lack of seconds.

Pictured: Century Town Council member Sandra McMurray Jackson uses her cellphone during a Monday night meeting at the Century Community Center on West Highway 4. Inside the building, it is usually necessary to connect to the town’s Wi-Fi due to a lack of a cellular signal. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.