A multi-provider cellular tower is being built to improve cellular phone service in Meridian Township.
The 180-foot tower will be constructed within the next month between Meridian Township Hall, 5151 Marsh Road, and its adjacent public safety building.
The tower was designed to resemble a three-sided clock tower with panels hiding its antennae and a clock face on each side, township officials said.
The new cellular tower will also have the capacity for eight cell-phone carriers, along with two spaces for improved public safety communications for Meridian Township’s police and fire departments.
With expanded cellular service, no one is being left out of range.
“This will improve cellular phone service in the area,” Meridian Township Manager Jerry Richards said. “There were holes - places where users weren’t being properly served, including areas near the Meridian Mall. Service was sporadic.”
Cellular towers have not been well received in other local areas.
The East Lansing City Council conducted an investigation of the effects of the Nextel cellular tower on top of the Alton Street water tower in Patriarche Park in 2001 after parents of students attending St. Thomas Aquinas School, 915 Alton St., voiced concerns over potential health hazards.
East Lansing City Manager Ted Staton believes that the concern over its tower was justified, but not plausible.
“There is always an uncertainty with anything that could potentially harm children,” he said. “We wanted to show that these type of cellular antennas located in proximity to schools or homes at that distance represent no health risks.”
But homeowners will benefit from the tower, Richards said.
“We were able to negotiate a cellular tower that doesn’t look like a typical cell tower,” he said. “It’s more aesthetically pleasing, and has less impact on residential areas.”
The tower will be operational this spring, Richards said.
Under the initial five-year lease with the township, DMD Towers, LLC, of Lansing, will pay a monthly rent of $1,500 for the first four carriers, but Meridian Township has the potential to receive more than $2 million in revenue from the lease, Richards said.
