Construction of a new 255-foot communications tower will be permitted north of Staplehurst.
The proposed tower, which is to be built by or for Verizon, returned to the Seward County Board of Commissioners’ agenda Oct. 13 after the board had worked through issues related to a Federal Communications Commission map that shows a non-existent tower a few miles from the new tower’s location at an earlier meeting.
Representatives of the company seeking approvals to build the tower said the tower will provide better service in and beyond that corner of the county.
Darren Hunter and Doug Barker, both of Grinnell Group, who are working on the permitting process to build the tower for Verizon, returned to the commissioners meeting for a second time to make the case for the tower.
Barker said communication companies like Verizon generate a top 100 list that shows the areas where customers have had the most dropped calls.
The fact that Verizon is planning a new tower in this area would likely mean it is on that list, he said.
At the commissioners’ meeting on Sept. 29, he defined capacity as the tower’s ability to serve customers in an area and coverage as the range for which the tower can carry communications, linking with other towers. To limit dropped calls and dead spots, the phone companies have to “shrink” coverage areas on the towers.
“The majority of the issues that are happening out here now are capacity issues, not coverage,” Barker said.
The ebb and flow of phone use during the day can also affect cell coverage, Barker said.
But the companies also need to serve wide areas.
Coverage needed
Commission Chair Misty Ahmic, at both meetings where the tower was discussed, has said that communication companies advertise full coverage in the Seward County area, though there is some percentage of non-coverage allowed when that is stated.
She asked if a tower would be needed every three miles.
“We need better coverage. You are shrinking that coverage area and that is what is frustrating to me,” she said. “I do not want the county to look like an asparagus field.”
She said the county will do its part in the network of linking towers.
“But I think they can be doing something besides building towers every three miles,” she said.
Barker said the towers are more conspicuous in rural areas but cities also have increased the number of towers or antennas on taller roof tops to serve the increased number of people using cell phones and other communications.
He said a city the size of Lincoln could have antennas every 500 feet to serve its population.
Hunter said the number and distance between towers depends on the topography and the existing towers. In addition to being taller, the new tower is also planned on topography with elevation about 50 feet higher than the closest tall tower’s location.
Commissioners said this will be the first new tower constructed during their terms on the board, which go back to 2018. Conditional permits occasionally come before the commissioners for updated or new equipment to be added to existing towers.
Giles Schildt, who attended the commissioners meeting with his mother, Joan Schildt, said the tower would serve his family members and others who live in the area, and noted the increased dependence farmers have on technology and connection in the fields.
Better capacity would also help his mother and his family when they visit cemeteries or check crops in the area.
Ahmic noted that the connective nature of cell phone services does not follow county lines.
“It sounds like we are really going to be helping Polk and Butler counties,” she said. “That is the least populated area of (Seward) county.”
Application amended
At the Sept. 29 meeting, Barker and Hunter told commissioners the tower would allow for better connections to towers existing or planned in the neighboring counties.
While commissioners still expressed concern about the number of towers around the county, they worked with the Schildts, Hunter and Barker to assure the conditional use permit accurately reflects the situation, taking a 15-minute meeting recess to allow them to revise their application with Joan Schildt as the applicant and property owner.
Unlike other conditional use permits issued by the county, this one will not include the statement the commissioners usually add indicating the permit is non-transferrable should the permitted operation or land be sold.
Barker said the property lease is similar to an easement because once built, the tower is designed to remain in place for many years. He said the permit usually stays with the land.
Barker said the addition of non-transferability on the conditional use permit is unusual, asking commissioners if they would demand the tower be removed if the new owner did not reapply.
“I have had my 800th hearing for towers this year, and this is the first time anything remotely close to this has come up,” he said.
Commissioner Raegan Hain said she would not vote on the permit, noting she had opposed the tower in a letter sent to the Seward County Planning Commission as a private citizen who lives near the site. She said it was frustrating so much more information was presented for the board of commissioners than was available when the planning commission discussed the topic.
Planning Commission Chair Dale Niemann appeared at the commissioners’ Sept. 29 public hearing on the tower as a private citizen in the Staplehurst area advocating for the tower. The planning commission did not recommend the conditional permit due to the proximity of the tower now known to be on the map erroneously.
In the end, the county voted 4-0 Oct. 13, with Hain abstaining, to grant a conditional use permit to The Towers LLC as agent for Schildt to construct the tower.
