Town moving closer to leasing land for cell-phone towers

Friday April 19 12:00am
The Providence Journal-Bulletin (Providence, RI)

Rehoboth would no longer be a black hole for cell-phone signals, where callers lose signal coverage as they drive through town.

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REHOBOTH

The committee that oversees the town's policy on cellular phone towers is putting the finishing touches on plans to solicit bids to lease town land to communication companies, according to David J. Marciello, the selectmen's executive secretary.

Voters have approved several town-owned parcels, including the north and south fire stations, the public safety building, the transfer station and the Highway Department garage, as suitable sites for cell-phone towers. That means that, once the town opens bids, only the signing of contracts will stand in the way of phone companies putting up towers at those locations, Marciello said.

As he sees it, the result will be win-win for Rehoboth residents. We need the coverage, and it's revenue for the town, said Marciello.

Rehoboth would no longer be a black hole for cell-phone signals, where callers lose signal coverage as they drive through town. And the town would reap several thousand dollars a month for the towers, according to Marciello. That could add up to $ 150,000 or more a year just for hosting the facilities.

Marciello predicted that, at all of the sites except South Fire Station, residents and motorists would not even see the towers because they would be well back from roadways and residential areas. Marciello said the town might consider restrictions on towers at the fire station that could make them costlier

and thus less desirable

to the phone companies while making them more visually pleasing.

He said the bids could be advertised by the end of next month, with winning bidders determined sometime in July.

The cell-phone committee is working with a consultant, IDK Communications of Littleton, in developing requests for phone companies to submit bids. IDK will receive $ 4,920 for its services, but the money will come from winning bidders, not taxpayers. IDK will help the town evaluate whether the bids phone companies submit are at competitive rates.