Pensacola rejects 90-foot cell tower permit in northside of city

There will be no new cell tower in north Pensacola.

The Pensacola City Council voted unanimously Thursday night to deny a request to build a 90-foot cell phone tower near the Walmart on Creighton Road.

SBA Communications, based in Boca Raton, was seeking a conditional-use permit to build the cell phone tower that would be capable of hosting up to four cell service providers, with Verizon as the primary tenant of the tower.

Representatives of the company told the council the tower was needed in that area. Data presented by the company showed the 5G network was overcrowded as the popularity of high-bandwidth devices and applications continued to grow.

The company presented data showing that cell service indoors in that area was particularly degraded, and the need for that coverage was increasing because of the growing use of home broadband internet being provided through cell signals.

Additionally, the coverage the tower provides does the work of about 30 small-cell anntenas, according to a company representative.

The installation of small-cell antennas across the city provoked an outcry in 2019 as the city was largely powerless to regulate where they could be placed.

Residents of the nearby Dunmire Woods neighborhood came out to the meeting to voice opposition to the request, arguing it didn't meet the city's requirements to be granted a permit and that it would be a nuisance for neighborhood residents because of the red lights required to go on the tower.

The tower was to be located along the eastern edge of the Walmart parking lot, occupying an area of 40 feet by 60 feet.

Harold Timmons, a site developer with SBA Communications, told the council they typically enclose the area in a 6-foot fence topped with barbed wire, but Walmart objected to the barbed wire, so they were planning on securing it with an 8-foot fence.

Councilman Charles Bare, whose district includes the area, asked Timmons to clarify it was Walmart who had asked for there not to be barbed wire on the fence, and Timmons confirmed that it was.

"They've (Walmart) already proven not to be a good neighbor in our city," Bare said.

Bare said he's concerned that without barbed wire around the fence, it would make the tower easier for someone to trespass and do something dangerous like attempt to climb the tower.

"You're going to have a tower that's sitting there with an 8-foot fence that someone can easily scale and climb up that tower," Bare said. "I just think that's a bad idea as well. Walmart doesn't seem to want to protect people from doing things like that either, so I'm not going to support this tonight."

Councilwoman Jennifer Brahier also raised concerns about the impact on natural habitat areas such as Dumire Park nearby and questioned why it couldn't be located along Interstate 10.

Timmons pointed out that before the tower can be built, the builders must conduct an environmental study using the National Environmental Policy Act to assess any potential environmental impacts of the project.

From the archives: Pensacola mayor defends city's handling of 5G small cell antenna rollout

Council members were also concerned that the location of the tower was in the flight path of a runway at the Pensacola International Airport.

Airport Director Matt Coughlin told the council that the airport defers to the Federal Aviation Administration when it comes to deciding if a cell tower would interfere with airport operations. Coughlin said the FAA determined there were no concerns with the tower for current operations and for future growth of the airport.

Councilwoman Teniadé Broughton said if the neighbors didn't support it, she couldn't support it.

"The neighborhood doesn't want it," Broughton said. "That's it. That's the end of the discussion for me."

However, the hearing for the permit was a quasi-judicial hearing, which means the decision to approve or deny must be based solely on criteria in the land development code and facts presented during the hearing.

Councilwoman Allison Patton said she understood the concerns of the neighborhood but also understood that the growing demand for this technology would mean there will have to be more cell phone towers.

"Where do we put these towers if not in an area that has a Walmart and other shopping centers?" Patton said. "This is the future. This is where we're heading for better or worse."

City Attorney Adam Cobb pointed out that conditional use permits must meet six standards set out in the land development code, but a conditional-use permit for a cell towers must meet a seventh standard that the applicant would be unable to provide wireless service in that area of the city.

Brahier pointed out that wireless service is already provided in this area and that she believed the applicants did not meet the other criteria either.

Patton said she thought the first six criteria were debatable but agreed the seventh criteria was not met since cell service was available in that area.

"It may not be as good as everybody would want it or certainly as good as it could be, but it's there," Patton said.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola rejects 90-foot cell 5G tower near Creighton Walmart