Fixed Wireless Technology

Building a Tower, Part 1: Planning and Permissions —continued

Environmental and historical review
When building any structure, you need to make sure that you're not destroying the historical record. That's known as a Section 106 review.

Generally, the company avoids needing to do environmental reviews by putting towers near buildings or in industrial parks. Crusie says that one tower was built near a wetlands, but the company was able to prove that the tower was not actually inside the wetlands area.

Local permissions
In addition to working with the FAA, MapleNet works with the city or township in which the tower will be built. Here, every city and town may have different rules. "Local knowledge and relationships help," says Carender. "It's better to be a local company building a tower than to be a big cellphone company or even out-of-town MapleNet."

Approvals are, of course, faster in areas that have little or no internet service. In towns and cities, approval may take some time.

In MapleNet's home base, there's a rule that you have to prove that you cannot co-locate on an existing tower before you can get permission to build a new tower. Some towns may require that any tower you build have space and loading provisions for the co-location of other wireless services.

Carender says that many localities seem to prefer monopole towers (because they look better?) as opposed to guyed towers or self-supporting three legged towers. "A monopole is a big steel pole. It's more expensive, heavier, and more difficult to work on. I think the majority of tower owners would not build a monopole tower unless required to."

What about interference in co-location? The lease specifies what equipment a co-locating company can install, so if a company applies for a lease for one radio and puts up eight, they've violated the contract. "The leasing person is paying per antenna and by vertical height," says Crusie. "So four antennas at 200 feet are more expensive than four antennas at 100 feet."

The company prepares site plans, tower drawing, and visual impact renderings. Some jurisdictions require that a tower not make the neighborhood look ugly (you would not want to go through this process in Manhattan, where local boards are tough). MapleNet takes a photo, perhaps from the local downtown or historic district, and photoshops in the proposed tower.

Site plans include landscaping and a driveway. Carender says that if the ground is muddy, the construction equipment will tear it up and the company replaces the soil afterwards. As for the driveway, that's another reason to prefer putting a tower near an existing building: you'll already have a driveway. In one recent case, Crusie says, the company is building a tower in a disused gravel pit. The pit already has a driveway, but MapleNet has to apply for permission to use it even though the driveway has been there for decades.

Local permissions take a lot of time. You can see why MapleNet has one full time employee working on local permissions alone.

MapleNet estimates that tower site selection and the various approvals can take anywhere from four weeks to six months.

—End

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