Palm Coast plans for new cell tower at Palm Harbor Golf Club

Palm Coast Observer
News

The Palm Coast city government hopes that a new cell tower will help fill some of the gaps in Palm Coast’s cell service coverage.

Lakeview Estates project discussion rescheduled

A proposed City Council discussion of a development project in Lakeview Estates has been moved from the Council’s Dec. 15 meeting to a meeting at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 5. A second hearing will be held at 9 a.m. on Jan. 19.

The meetings will be held at the City Council chambers at City Hall, and can be attended in-person (masks and temperature checks are required) or streamed through the city’s website at palmcoastgov.com.

CDBG projects planned

Palm Coast spent $260,950 last fiscal year in money from the federal Community Development Block Grant program, which helps pay for housing repairs and construction and other projects to assist low- and moderate-income people.

Of the total, $224,000 was spent on housing, $17,000 on public service projects and $19,950 on administration.

Work for this fiscal year is planned, but has been delayed due to COVID-19.

The proposed 150-foot monopole tower would be constructed at the Palm Harbor Golf Club by Diamond Towers, a cell tower construction company with which the city entered a contract in 2017 for the construction of a series of towers around the city.

“Over the years, city staff has heard the concerns of citizens who want to increase the wireless coverage in the city,” Palm Coast Information Technology Director Doug Akins said at a Dec. 7 Palm Coast City Council meeting. The city tasked Diamond with developing a Wireless Master Plan to determine where coverage gaps are and what’s needed to fill them, and with attracting more carriers to the existing towers as well as the new ones.

Diamond identified 10 coverage area gaps and 29 properties where cell towers could be placed.

The city then created an expedited approval process for towers placed on those sites.

The discussion at the Dec. 7 council workshop was part of that process, and the proposed tower site will have to return to the City Council for a vote at a business meeting for final approval.

The proposed tower at the Palm Harbor Golf Club would have the ability to accommodate at least four cell carriers, according to a city staff document.

The nearest homes are about 300 feet away, and the tower would be placed near maintenance buildings for the golf course.

The city shares with Diamond the revenue brought in when new cell carriers contract with the city to place their antennas on towers on city land identified in the master plan.

If the tower is approved, Diamond will pay the city a $25,000 site development fee to start construction of the tower and will then receive 60% of the revenue it generates.