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Politics & Government

New London City Council Awards a Contract for a Cell Phone Tower at Ocean Beach

Company will pay $2,000 a month rent for first year

It’s no secret that cell phone reception down by Ocean Beach is bad. In fact, you’re lucky if you have it at all. So the City Council’s decision Monday night to award a contract to Message Center Management, Inc., that would allow for construction of a cell phone tower at Ocean Beach was welcome news to many.

“I cannot get my cell phone service at Ocean Beach,” said area resident Nancy Baude, who told the council she worries about her grandchildren playing at the beach because they can’t reach her in an emergency or call if they need to be picked up. “This is much needed. I hope this can be worked out swiftly.”

According to the contract, Hartford-based Message Center Management, a national provider of wireless antennae sites, will pay $2,000 a month in rent for the first year and the rent will go up three percent every year until the end of its 20-year lease. The cell tower’s six platforms will be available to every cell phone company and New London will receive a share of that revenue too. The contract calls for the city to receive 30 percent of the gross revenue for the second through the sixth tenant on the poles. Revenue sharing for the first tenant on the pole is included in the rent.

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For safety and convenience, most of Baude’s neighbors agree that the new cell tower is a necessity. The fact that all the money the city makes from the cell tower will go to maintaining and improving Ocean Beach is also a plus. Even so, some people worry the tower might be an eyesore.

“I have some concern about the proposal for a cell tower. I’m not opposed and I think the money will be good,” said Ralph Matyas.  But, he added, the proposed location for the cell tower and the buildings around it is a mere 520-feet from his living room on Highland Avenue. “I’m concerned about my property value and about aesthetics.”

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His neighbor Hallie Kay, who moved into her house on Highland Avenue just three weeks ago, shares his concern. “I’m not opposed to the cell tower,” she said, “just the location.” Matyas, who works in construction, told the council he’d suggest placing the tower behind the waterslide near the high voltage area.

The proposed location was initially selected because building a cell tower too close to the water is problematic and the tower needs to be situated away from existing structures just in case it falls down. Before construction can begin, however, any site will have to be approved by planning and zoning and pass muster with environmental agencies.

After hearing residents’ concerns, council members said that the proposal didn’t hinge on the cell tower being constructed on that particular site and they assured residents that they would do everything possible to find a site that would be acceptable to everyone. New London’s Parks Department would be responsible for landscaping and creating a buffer. “The Council knows the need for the tower,” said Mayor Martin Olsen. “We will do our best.”  

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