Princeton Puts Walmart Cell Tower on Hold

Princeton will hold off on deciding whether a 155-foot cell tower can go up in the Walmart parking lot on West Princeton Drive. On Monday, Nov. 2, the Planning and Zoning Commission voted to table the request instead of approving or denying it. Commissioners want to talk it over with City Council at a joint meeting first. That meeting has not been scheduled.

The tower would sit near Beauchamp Boulevard, inside a fenced area for equipment. Walmart owns the land, and SBA Communications would own the tower. Verizon would be the main carrier, and the company's representative said the tower is built to hold more than one carrier, adding that AT&T and T-Mobile also need better coverage in the area. "Princeton is a city that's growing significantly," he told commissioners, and he said the carriers are seeing weak service along this stretch of US 380 as a result. "Even on my drive today, as I was using my phone, there were dropped calls along the way," he said.

Commissioners agreed that cell service in Princeton is a problem. "We've got a terrible cell phone coverage problem in this city. It is absolutely the worst," one commissioner said. Another put it more personally: "I use my phone. It's my lifeline." That commissioner added, though, that a 155-foot tower was not something they wanted to see in the middle of the city.

Their main concern was location. The city's new long-range plan calls for US 380 to be the attractive main entrance into Princeton, and several commissioners said a tower at the Beauchamp corner works against that. One commissioner said it would "stick out like a sore thumb." Another described the view for drivers turning onto Beauchamp: "The first thing you're going to see is a big tower." A third suggested moving it to the middle of the parking lot, saying, "I don't think any of us are going to support something right there on the corner. Not going to happen."

There is also a disagreement over how close the tower would be to homes. City code requires a tower this tall to stay about 275 feet from residential areas. City staff said the plans show residential zoning about 57 feet away, which would not meet that rule. The company said the nearest residential land is more than 575 feet away, which would. Commissioners asked both sides to sort out the numbers before the case comes back.

The company's representative said he was willing to change the plan. He said no one had told him the city expected alternatives: "We didn't know that that was an option." He offered to check whether a shorter tower, around 100 feet, would still work for the carriers, and to bring designs that hide the tower, such as one made to look like a pine tree. He also explained why towers can be hard to place. "I've been doing this for 25 years," he said. "The toughest part is finding a willing landlord to place a tower on their property."

Not every commissioner wanted a long delay. One warned that sending the company to find a new site could leave residents waiting a year or more for better service. "Nobody wants to look at these cell towers, but they're the reality of what we're living with," the commissioner said.

The city is also working on its own plan to improve service. According to the city's website, Princeton has partnered with a company called Anthemnet to build towers on seven city-owned properties. Two of those sites are moving forward, one on County Road 1219 and one at Dale Herd Lambert Park. The city has not said when they will be built.

For now, nothing has been approved for the Walmart site. The request will be discussed at the joint meeting of the commission and City Council before any vote is taken. City Council will make the final decision.