The North Ridgeville Utilities Committee on Dec. 1 voted to send a renegotiated lease with TowerCo for a proposed cell tower at the Shady Drive Complex to the full City Council for further consideration.

City staff said council originally authorized a TowerCo agreement in 2016 that was executed but never built. The administration asked that the earlier contract be renegotiated before resuming work with TowerCo, saying the 2016 terms “might not be in the best favor of the city.” The current proposal reduces the lease footprint from about 5,600 square feet to roughly 2,400 square feet and keeps the tower height unchanged.

The administration presented financial comparisons between the old and proposed deals. According to staff, the 2016 arrangement would have paid about $900 per month with a 2% increase after the initial five-year period, yielding just over $316,000 over 25 years. Under the new draft agreement, staff said TowerCo would pay a $2,500 signing bonus, a base rent of $1,500 per month with a 1.5% annual increase after the first year, and an additional $500 for each additional major carrier that locates on the tower; staff estimated the city’s revenue under the proposal would be about $1.8 million over 50 years.

Kit Nickel, who identified himself as a TowerCo representative, described his experience building and upgrading cell sites and said carrier budgets and service-area demand often determine timing. “I personally have 52, 53 sites that I’m working with Verizon on,” Nickel said, adding that new housing development and carrier fixed-wireless products have increased demand for local tower sites.

Committee members pressed staff on site impacts and access. Councilman Cliff Wenkel asked about acreage and city access for repairs; staff confirmed the compound would be about 2,400 square feet (roughly a 40-by-60 area) and said the city would retain rights to access the leased area for health, safety or maintenance reasons but would not access carrier equipment cabinets without cause. The administration said the compound would be sited to avoid sharing a fence with nearby ball fields, leaving a 5–6 foot buffer for maintenance.

Staff said the proposed site location has been moved east within the complex to avoid potential future road alignments and to put the tower farther from Waterbury residences. Any final site plan, they added, must go before the planning commission and return to council for approval of construction details.

The committee then approved a motion to forward the revised TowerCo lease and the accompanying site review to the full council for further consideration. The committee chair closed the meeting and adjourned.

Next steps: the planning commission review of the site plan, and a future City Council consideration of the proposed lease and any required zoning or site approvals. If approved by council, final construction would be contingent on planning commission approvals and carrier funding decisions.