Palm Coast updates wireless master plan; council signals support for new tower sites including Fire Station 22

City staff and consultants presented an updated wireless master plan on March 11 that narrows future wireless communication facilities to city-owned properties, outlines an applicant hierarchy, and proposes a set of prequalified sites the council can approve for tower ground leases.

The update reflects work done after the city’s 2016 master plan and Diamond Communications’ earlier contract. “The wireless master plan is a city strategic approach to tackling the issue of inadequate cell coverage,” consultant Doug said as he introduced the revised plan. The plan relies on radio-frequency (RF) analysis to identify coverage gaps and maps city properties that meet preliminary zoning and technical criteria.

What’s new: The revised plan includes only city-owned parcels (removing Flagler School properties that were previously included) and lists sites prequalified by staff for size, setbacks from residential zoning, access, wetlands/floodplain restrictions and other constraints. The plan also describes a clear application hierarchy under the Land Development Code: applicants must first examine master-plan locations, then other city property, then private sites (the latter requiring special-exception review by the planning board).

Why it matters: Council and staff repeatedly cited poor cellular coverage across parts of Palm Coast and the importance of enhanced coverage to public safety operations and 9-1-1 service. Consultant maps based on RF signal strength showed multiple “yellow” areas where reception is below the city’s reliability threshold (reliable coverage defined as > −100 dBm on the consultant’s maps). Staff highlighted technical impacts on automatic vehicle-location (AVL) systems and on the county’s 9-1-1 call volumes, which in recent months were predominantly wireless calls.

Contentious sites: Council revisited a long-running controversy about the Palm Harbor Golf Course area. A previously proposed lease near the course drew strong resident opposition in 2020; council removed the golf course from the plan at that time. Staff said a separate city-owned site at 7 Clubhouse Drive had been approved previously under an 18-month option but the planning-board approval window expired without execution. Staff recommended instead adding the property the city recently acquired for Fire Station 22; Vice Mayor Panieri said Fire Station 22 is “preferred to being at Clubhouse Drive” and asked staff to remove the Clubhouse Drive parcel (S13) from the master-plan recommendation before the item comes back for final council action.

Process and checks: Staff noted that any ground lease for a master-plan site would still require council approval of a lease, then technical site-plan review and building permits. If a carrier proposes a non-master-plan city parcel, council would see the ground lease before staff brings a special-exception application to the Planning and Land Development Regulation Board. Cell towers are allowed in nonresidential zoning districts but must be a minimum 150 feet from residential zoning. Staff also said third-party expert review at the applicant’s expense is required for compliance checks.

Public input: During public comment, longtime local developer Paul McDonald and other residents urged caution and asked that exact approved locations be enforced. Multiple speakers asked the council to balance coverage needs with resident concerns about site visibility and health impacts; staff said approvals would include setbacks, landscaping and design conditions when appropriate.

Next steps: Council signaled consensus to add the recommended city-owned parcels in the updated plan and to allow the city manager to remove parcels that later prove unsuitable (but not to add parcels without council approval). Staff will return the updated wireless master plan and recommended parcel list to a business meeting for an official council vote.

Ending: The council’s direction keeps the consultant work and staff checks moving forward and positions the city to receive carrier proposals on prequalified city properties while preserving council-level control over final ground-lease approvals.