MANTI—The Manti City Council has agreed to look into permitting an 80-foot cell tower to be built on city property, with the city potentially receiving lease payments from companies locating transmitters and other equipment on the tower.
“I think it makes sense to look into this,” City Manager Kent Barton said at a meeting Feb. 2.
Presenting the proposal to the council was Richard Lee of J5 Infrastructure Partners, a company based in Irvine, Calif. that has a field office in the International Center west of the Salt Lake International Airport. J5 finds locations, designs and builds towers.
Lee said his company was an agent for AT&T, and AT&T was interested in locating a tower at about 400 North and 800 East next to one of the city water tanks. He said AT&T had determined the location “meets its needs, plugs a hole in coverage.”
If the council approved, Lee said, J5 would build the tower at an estimated cost of $200,000.
He said once the tower was complete, AT&T would sign a contract with the city in which it would deed the tower to the city. In return, the city would permit AT&T to house a transmitter on the tower at no charge for a period stated in the contract. Lee didn’t say how long the period would run, but Barton said such contracts typically run 30 years.
However, an 80-foot pole would have space for at least two more transmitters, Lee said. As owner of the tower, the city could permit other carriers to put their equipment on the tower and charge the companies a monthly lease fee.
He added that co-location could help prevent a proliferation of poles and towers in Manti and bring “a tidy amount into the city.”
In an interview after the meeting, Barton said more research is needed to find out what the market rate would be for leasing space on the tower.
Barton said he would also be looking into whether two transmitters would be the maximum or whether various smaller devices could be attached to the tower and lease fees charged on those devices as well.
