Cityscape recommends single-site UHF repeater after finding large wireless coverage gaps in Franklin Park

Cityscape Consultants and Federal Engineering presented the second phase of a wireless master plan to Franklin Park borough council members during a January pre-meeting, saying large portions of the borough lack reliable cellular and radio coverage and recommending a single-site UHF repeater to improve public-works interoperability and reduce channel congestion.

The presenters said the Allegheny Public Safety Radio System remains the primary public-safety network for the borough’s police and volunteer fire departments and for the McCandless-Franklin Park Ambulance Authority. “The Allegheny Public Safety Radio System provides emergency communications for, the public safety agencies within the borough, namely the police department and the volunteer fire departments,” said Travis LePage, director with Federal Engineering, one of the firms on the project.

Cityscape’s inventory and mapping found 17 wireless infrastructure sites in and around the borough — seven facilities inside the borough and 10 in a one-mile perimeter — including five existing towers, four small wireless facilities and one base station. Consultants said one local table in their packet showed about 58% of Franklin Park address points had “spotty or no coverage” under the hypothetical scenario in which every provider was collocated on every site; Cityscape also cautioned that a single carrier’s real coverage can be much worse if that provider has not built out the same sites.

Consultants recommended two parallel paths: (1) implement a single-site UHF repeater (sited, for example, atop the borough administration building) to replace the borough’s aging low‑band truck‑to‑truck system and to serve as an auxiliary tactical channel, and (2) pursue zoning, right‑of‑way and site‑selection work to fill personal wireless gaps using a mix of macro towers and small wireless facilities. “We estimate it would be approximately $120,000 for the actual site, the fixed equipment infrastructure for this UHF system, plus an additional $65,000 for the actual radios,” LePage said when describing high‑level cost estimates for a borough‑owned repeater and radios.

The consultants said the borough’s low‑band licenses were canceled by the Federal Communications Commission in September 2003 and that low‑band equipment is increasingly hard to acquire and maintain; they recommended against further investment in low‑band technology. They also noted Allegheny County is implementing a standards‑based Project 25 (P25) digital radio replacement designed to provide coverage across roughly 98% of the county’s geographic area, but that county coverage targets do not automatically equate to coverage inside Franklin Park and that subscriber radios likely will need replacement to work on the new county system. LePage recommended a meeting between borough staff and Allegheny County Emergency Services to clarify what the county contract will and will not supply to local agencies.

Cityscape presented detailed propagation maps showing indoor, in‑vehicle and outdoor coverage bands, and highlighted topographic factors, tree canopy and building construction that reduce in‑building reception even where maps show coverage under idealized assumptions. The consultants identified two macro cell sites inside the borough: an SBA‑owned 195‑foot tower at Lynn Brook Park (site F01) and a 147‑foot Crown Castle tower on Allegheny Land Trust property (site F02). Consultants reported that four small wireless poles were recently installed along Grama School (in county or state right‑of‑way) and that those sites are being used by Verizon and are being upgraded.

Councilors and agency representatives pressed consultants on several points. A member identifying themself as a Franklin Park fire department member questioned operational utility for public‑safety response, noting local fire and police have upgraded radios and that some public channels are not monitored: “As far as I know, I’m on the fire department. You could never use public voice channel because it’s not monitored,” the speaker said, adding that county coverage gaps — including areas along the interstate — remain a concern.

Cityscape proposed next steps including a detailed review of borough zoning to identify regulatory barriers; a municipal decision about whether to permit personal wireless facilities on institutional or publicly owned property in residential zones; development of local design standards if the borough chooses to encourage small wireless facilities in rights of way; and possible community surveying. The consultants asked the council to decide whether to proceed; councilors said they would discuss the recommendation at a February working session.

The presentation did not include a formal motion or vote. Consultants and borough officials identified multiple dependencies — the county’s P25 cutover, clarity on whether the county will fund subscriber radios, and federal/state right‑of‑way approvals for small wireless facilities — that could affect timing and final costs.