SEYMOUR – Town government is considering building a cell tower on public land in the Great Hill area.
If it happens, the town could potentially collect between $200,000 and $250,000 in annual revenue from the tower, Seymour Finance Director Jason Vieira said during a public meeting July 21.
Vieira told the Board of Selectpersons that Verizon approached the town about wanting to build a new cell tower. He said the town could potentially benefit from building the tower itself.
“If the town builds it and the town pays for it, the town can choose what tenants they want on the tower, and collect the revenue from the rent,” Vieira said.
There is no formal proposal on the table. A location, project cost, tower height and other details haven’t been finalized.
However, the Selectpersons got the ball rolling by unanimously approving hiring a consultant to do a study.
A report of the findings is expected to be discussed at the selectperson’s Sept. 1 meeting, according to Vieira.
Vieira said since the selectperson’s approval, he was able to bring Airosmith, LLC, a telecommunications company based in Sarasota Springs, NY, onboard to develop a report.
The consultant is being paid $2,600, Vieira said.
“The consultant is going to look at a few sites in the Great Hill area and see where they can put a tower,” Vieira said. “They will likely have multiple site recommendations and they’re going to provide a report that will include results of their site visit, including a site plan, height of the tower, type of materials used to build a tower, cost of the project and a potential construction timeline.”
Vieira estimated it could cost between $300,000 and $500,000 to build a cell tower, which the town would have to front. Vieira said the project would pay for itself in three or four years.
Seymour has a cell tower located in the Silvermine Industrial Park on Progress Lane, Vieira said, but the town does not own that one. The town pays $47,000 a year to rent space on the tower for various emergency radio communication usage.
First Selectwoman Annmarie Drugonis said she sees potential in the town building its own cell tower.
“We’re currently paying to use other people’s towers, and this (building our own tower) would allow us to have control of our radios, and then there’s also the steady revenue stream,” Drugonis said.
Vieira said Verizon is looking at three or four town-owned sites in the Great Hill area, which includes land at Gary Park off Davis Road.
In 2014, a previous proposal for a cell tower at Great Hill Hose Fire Co. at 140 Botsford Rd. fizzled out when firefighters and neighbors came out in opposition.
AT&T wanted to replace an existing lattice-style, 160-foot communications tower on the firehouse property built in 1985 with a taller monopole. If approved, the town would’ve banked about $18,000 a year, according to AT&T’s proposal.