Council approves Verizon tower lease and limits First Digital franchise to commercial trunk-line

The North Ogden City Council approved two telecommunications items on March 24: a ground-lease agreement with Verizon for a wireless tower site near 2700 North Mountain Road, and a nonexclusive franchise agreement with First Digital, limited to a commercial trunk-line deployment pending further council review.

Scott Hess described the Verizon proposal as an 880‑square‑foot ground lease at $1,700 per month for an initial five‑year term with four automatic five‑year extensions, a structure that would allow other carriers to collocate antennas on the same tower. Staff recommended approval and noted that additional carriers would negotiate separate ground leases for their equipment. Council members asked whether colocations could be monetized and whether the tower would serve any public-safety radio needs; staff said colocations would bring additional ground-lease revenue and that public‑safety uses are handled through other systems and unlikely to be directly hosted on the commercial tower.

Council approved the Verizon lease by a 5–0 roll‑call vote. Members discussed directing any new telecom revenue to targeted projects; staff said the revenue posts to miscellaneous revenue and could be budgeted for infrastructure priorities.

On the franchise request, council approved a First Digital franchise to permit the company to install a commercial trunk line (the developer’s immediate project) but required the company to return to council for approval if it wanted to expand to residential service. The motion included a condition limiting authorization to the commercial backbone so the city could negotiate any future residential terms, insurance, and excavation protections.

Both measures were approved unanimously by roll call.