A 260-foot communications tower planned along U.S. 301 less than a mile north of County Road 468 may improve cellular phone coverage in the Village of Fenney.
Fenney residents have complained about spotty coverage in their community.
The tower would be on land owned by Harry Harmer and T&D Concrete, a company that often works on Villages projects.
The project was recommended for Wildwood City Commission approval Oct. 3 by Special Magistrate Grant Watson at a meeting of the Wildwood Planning and Zoning Board. But it hasn’t yet come to the commission and this week will be discussed by the city’s Project Review Committee.
An inward-crumbling design means the tower would fall upon itself, if a structural failure occurs, which means the surrounding area would not be damaged. Clearances to nearby buildings and other objects can be less than a different type of tower.
NexTower of Gainesville would build the tower. That company was founded in 2014 by David Boeff, who has been associated with other tower companies after a career at Motorola.
It’s not clear which carriers would be on the tower.
The nearest tower to Fenney for Verizon and AT&T is near Bushnell, according to a Web site that maps cellular towers. T-Mobile has a tower near Lake Panasoffkee while Sprint towers are farther away, according to the map.
Fenney residents have used various methods to work around the spotty cell coverage. Newer cell phones can route calls through wi-fi. For older phones, companies used to offer network extenders to boost the signal. Some residents have opted for landlines.
