How do I go about leasing land for a cell phone tower?

I have property at the 6,000 ft. level of the San Bernardino Mountains, (CA) and I want to know how I go about leasing land for a cell phone tower. Who do I approach? The land is off Highway 38 on the way up to Big Bear. Any info would be appreciated.

[Gman]

Try going to http://www.sprintpcs.com/aboutsprintpcs/index.html and clicking on 'Submit a Cell Site'

G.

[IdiOTeQnoLogY]

yes good suggestion. sprint has a very good tower program with a fast turnaround speed. you should definitely follow the link that gman submitted in the post above and then as a backup goto

www.sprintsites.com

and submit it there too

I think GTE serves the area where my property is.

[ComicalMoodyDan]

There is no more GTE anymore, I think you mean Verizon instead. Sprint is in most areas though and I recommened you try submitting a site on there website and see what happens.


Submit A Cell Site

[larry]

GTE has never served San Bernardino County. But Sprint is definetly looking for new cell locations in your area. I would submit an application and see what happens but I have to warn you about the possibly of near by NIMBY's who might try and interfere if Sprint takes you up on it. SBA (one of Sprint's tower partners) is also looking for sites there. www.sbasite.com

Thanks. I really appreciate all this advice. We have 44 acres surrounded on all sides by National Forest.

[mcdaib]

Just a quick two cents worth of advice. If I were going to contact a wireless provider about leasing land I would get all the information I could before contacting them in the event they have an interest. Some pertinent information would be the zoning of the land. You can call or meet with the government jurisdiction (county, city, etc) that administers this for your property. Ask them what type of proceedure is required to build a new cell tower. How long will this take? What fees are involved? Also, find out the lattitude and longitude of the property (as closely as you can determine) as this will be critical to the wireless carrier. I'd also do some investigating and find out what lease amounts are being paid in your area and the type and length of leases the carriers are going with in the area. This will give you a heads up in negotiating your lease. Good Luck!

[larry]

This is all good advice! Unfortunately San Bernardino County has an extremely long process to build towers. It sometimes has to clear 3 or 4 different departments (depending on how the land is zoned) and has to go for public hearing. You might be able to get somewhere between $1000 and $2000 a month in rent depending on how bad they need coverage there.

You folks are a gold mine of information. How do you all know so much about this? I have another question. How do I find out what the going rates for leases are in my area? Is this public knowledge? Also, since I'm surrounded on all sides by National Forest land, do I need the permission of the NFS? Thanks so much for your help. P.S. I doubt that I'll have neighbor problems. My closest neighbors are miles away. There's a Seventh Day Adventist camp in one direction, a Boy Scout camp a few miles in the other direction, and a few seldom-used cabins on Forest Service land. People traveling the highway to Big Bear could sure use the service though. How long are the leases usually for? We'd like to retire to this ranch, and it would be nice to have the income to count one.

[larry]

The leases are usually either for 10 or 20 years with an anual adjustment for inflation (about 3%). A permit might have to be renewed every 5 years by the County.

[aiwapro]

That's good money, makes me want to buy some land.

[IdiOTeQnoLogY]

yeah makes me wish my parents were more like capitalists and less like liberals (j/k i am glad that they are who they are) 2 g's a month is nice xtra spending money