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Commissioners approve 120‑foot 'monopine' cell tower on Southwest 96th Street
Summary
After presentations by county planning staff and an independent technical consultant, the board voted unanimously to approve a 120‑foot stealth 'monopine' wireless telecommunications tower and associated final site plan, with staff noting engineered fall‑zone protections.
The board received a presentation from John Sennett, principal planner in Growth Management, on a request by United Commercial Telecom to approve a 120‑foot stealth 'monopine' wireless telecommunications facility on a 1.7‑acre parcel on Southwest 96th Street. Staff and a retained independent technical consultant, 4G Unwired, concluded no existing tower near enough could provide equivalent improvements and that the proposed tower would materially improve service quality in that area.
Sennett said the structure would occupy a 1,600‑square‑foot lease area and would be designed to accommodate four carriers. The applicant's representative, Kevin Wright, described engineering measures intended to keep a tower's failure within its leased footprint: "The towers are designed typically to collapse on themselves... that fall zone for this particular tower would fall within the footprint of our lease area." Commissioners asked about FAA lighting thresholds, typical heights and the stealth design; staff and the applicant explained the 120‑foot height keeps the tower below FAA lighting thresholds under the current flight path.
After questions and a short public hearing (no public speakers), a commissioner moved to adopt staff's recommendation and the board approved the resolution adopting the final site plan by unanimous vote.
Why it matters: The approval authorizes a concrete siting for new wireless infrastructure that county staff and an independent consultant said will improve local wireless service and reliability.
