LABELLE — At the regular meeting of the Hendry County Commission on Tuesday, Aug. 25, a special exception was requested by Skyway Towers LLC. for a property in Port LaBelle to construct a monopole cell tower was presented. 

The proposed site for the tower is two acres at the southwest intersection of State Road 80 and Cowboy Way. The proposed facility is intended to address existing coverage gaps within T-Mobile's wireless network and enhance overall service capacity in the surrounding area.

Emma Rose Lingenfelter, a concerned homeowner, spoke against the proposal at the meeting. “We understand that good cellphone service is important,” she said. “But we are concerned about putting a cell tower in or directly next to a residential neighborhood. There are several reasons why we believe another location should be considered. As a resident whose property line is directly on the property line where the tower would be built, this proposal would have a much more direct impact on my home and my family than it would on most people in the neighborhood. The tower would become a permanent part of the view from my property and could affect my home’s property value, future resale and overall quality of life.”

Jeff Wright, a lawyer present on behalf of the applicant, explained that often times the location chosen for towers is about where the gaps in coverage are and applicants don’t really have the luxury of simply choosing a location.

Commissioner Michael Atkinson asked Wright if it was possible to take an existing tower and install new equipment that would cover a wider area so that a new tower would not have to be put in.

Wright said that the nearest tower to the site was 4.7 miles away and that there was some overlap but that there is still a huge coverage gap.

Commissioner Emory Howard inquired about the power that would be going to the tower and if the applicant would have a generator for backup power.

Wright was unable to give a definitive answer to the question, stating that to his understanding there was power at the site but he wasn’t sure if the individual cell providers that would use the tower would have their own backup generators.

Commissioner Mitchel Wills told Wright that he would need to ask his client about a generator because if power went out the tower would be useless without one. “Better coverage for the county means there’s better coverage all the time,” he said. “Not just periodically.” He said that he would love to see backup generators as a part of the plan because of how frequently power goes out in the area.

Commissioner Atskinson pointed out another concern about the coverage map. “That raises another question,” he said. “Probably half of this is covering Glades County, so I’d hate to have the eye-sore and they have the service. That’s something we got to look at.”

In light of the board’s concerns, they chose to table the discussion for the time being until the applicant can address them.

“I don’t care how big a hurry they’re in,” Commissioner Wills said. “We need to make sure this is the right fit and the right place before I’m going to say yes on it.” He went on to say that the board owes it to the people of Hendry County to make sure this benefits them as well as Glades County.

The board will revisit the topic at the regular meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 28 in LaBelle.