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Commission weighs six small‑cell pole proposals; tables some sites and forwards others to council
Summary
Fairhope staff and Verizon presented six small‑cell wireless pole applications; commissioners approved several with conditions, added flood‑zone protections at the marina site, and tabled a subset of locations to allow exploration of building rooftop collocation and other alternatives.
The Fairhope Planning Commission reviewed six small‑cell wireless applications (UR 26.05–26.11) and made mixed recommendations to city council after extended discussion about visual impacts, collocation on existing buildings, coverage versus capacity needs and alternative locations.
Staff said five proposed locations are inside the central business district (right of way) and one is at the marina on city property. Proposed antenna apparatus heights were generally about 37.5 feet, with the marina site near 42 feet. Five sites would require new or replacement poles and several applications proposed replacing an existing light pole so the net number of poles would not increase at those locations.
Commissioners expressed concern about downtown visual clutter and asked if rooftop or building collocation had been sufficiently explored. A Verizon representative, Bob Chopra of SAM (agent for Verizon), said Verizon had been working with city staff and had seen a pattern of complaints about downtown coverage; he said the chosen pole locations reflect coordination with the right‑of‑way and utilities team.
After discussion the commission took mixed action: the board tabled one or more new‑pole requests to the July meeting to give Verizon and staff time to evaluate rooftop and off‑street collocation alternatives. It recommended approval to council with conditions for several other sites: UR 26.06 (relocate slightly to replace a street light in front of Coastal Community College) with staff conditions, UR 26.07 and UR 26.08 (new pole locations) with standard conditions, UR 26.10 (equipment on an existing pole) passed 7–2, and UR 26.11 (marina site on city property) was approved unanimously with an additional condition requiring equipment meeting flood‑zone protections (elevation or watertight enclosures). Staff required pre‑construction meetings, traffic control plans and GIS submittals for all approved sites.
Commissioners asked staff and Verizon to return with analysis of whether rooftop collocation, building‑top equipment, or undergrounded feeders could reduce the number of new poles in downtown before the tabled applications return to the commission.
