Council views cell tower proposal

The Frisco City Council, on Tuesday discussed the lease terms and financial offer of the city's property for a cell tower.

The company in question was Premier Vertical Properties (PVP), a company that Texas House Representative Ken Paxton, has an interest in.

Ron Patterson, assistant city manager, said during the meeting that the proposal by PVP was to lease a site on Frisco park property for a cell tower. The item, which was discussed during the April 3 city council meeting, was brought back to council to compare the market data for other cell towers and their properties within the city.

"We wanted to look at what we are doing here in Frisco first. We only have one other monopole within our inventory, that is located adjacent to Central Fire Station and has been there since 1996, and is currently at a lease rate of about $1,300, a little over that with a 15 percent increase every 5 years," Patterson said. "We also spoke with the Frisco ISD to determine what they are doing; right now you'll see there that they do have a license fee that they charge of $2,850 plus $3,000 a month. That is a current signed contract at Griffin Middle School ... but then they also have a proposal on the table that all future, will be at about $3,600 a month or more."

The licensing fee, Patterson said, is a one-time fee for the companies.

According to city documents, other neighboring cities that were researched, using their 2008 Texas Municipal League Survey rates include Farmers Branch with a lease rate of $2,750 for a monopole in the city's park property; and Arlington and Mesquite which both charge between $1,666 to $2,500.

"The city of Hurst ... they provided us with data that they're at $1,322 for any single carrier, any additional carriers or multiple carriers -- goes up to $3,483, [and] they are at 10 percent every five years," Patterson said. "In addition to that, we looked at Plano, Allen, Richardson, Lewisville and Coppell just to check in and find out, 'did they have any free standing monopoles on property such as parks' -- and they did not, so those are all reported as a negative."

Patterson said the market rate for monopoles ranges between $1200 and $3000 for an "antenna on public property and that ranges from cities and school district."

PVP proposed an offer to the city of $800 a month.

"One of the questions we asked is are there other companies in the market, or other people looking at putting these in, the answer is yes, AT&T just recently entered into this agreement with FISD -- literally adjacent to where this proposal had been put before us at $800 a month," Patterson said. "They signed that contract for $3,000 a month."

Patterson said based on the gathered market data information, entering into an agreement of $800 a month as proposed by PVP did not answer the council's question of "does it make sense."

Councilman Pat Fallon said clearly the research showed that the offer made by PVP was "not within the market range," and the company would have to propose a higher offer.

Councilman John Keating asked if the company has contacted the city or if they are looking to negotiate a counter offer based on the market information.

Richard Abernathy, Frisco city attorney said the attorney for the company "couldn't offer more than $800 and make it work financially, but we didn't go back and suggest a number." He added that if council requested, the city would contact the company to negotiate.

The council gave direction not to accept the company's proposal.

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