- April 26, 2024
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Ormond Beach residents might soon see an increase in the bandwidth of their cellular network thanks to the Florida Legislature's passing of the Advance Wireless Deployment Act early July, which resulted in the City Commission having to amend Ormond Beach's Telecommunication ordinance at its Nov. 7th meeting in order to remain in compliance.
Planning Director Ric Goss said the amendment would prevent 150-foot monopole towers from being installed in the city, instead capping the microcell towers at 50 feet plus an extra 10 for their antennas. The microcells can be put on existing light poles, signals and electric poles and in the places where there are none, poles can be installed but they can be no taller than 60 feet.
"Microcells are much better than 150[-foot] monopole towers since they provide more capacity (note: not coverage) which in turn will increase the availability of 5G to residents," wrote Goss in an email.
At the City Commission meeting, both City Commissioner Dwight Selby and Mayor Bill Partington raised two concerns regarding the amendment: the aesthetic of the microcell towers and the lack of control at the municipal level on the matter.
“We really don’t have a choice here," Selby said. "We have to do this, but I am excited — I’m hopeful — that cell service will improve dramatically in the city because of the availability of doing this.”
Partington said the state legislature action was frustrating because it interferes with Home Rule. He mentioned The Villages who were able to exempt themselves from complying with the Advance Wireless Deployment Act by creating a political action committee and spending a significant amount of money lobbying legislature on the subject.
He also added that some installations of microcell towers aren't very aesthetically pleasing, but that he agreed with Selby in his hopes that this will improve cell service in the city.
“I just hope the companies that do this will work with us as much as possible to maintain our aesthetic standards so that our residents won’t complain and what they do will fit in with what we have already," Partington said.
