A 260-foot communications tower that could improve cellular phone coverage in the Village of Fenney was recommended for approval Tuesday at a meeting of the Wildwood Planning and Zoning Board.
The tower is planned on land owned by Harry Hamer and T&D Concrete, a company that works of Villages projects, along U.S. 301 less than a mile north of County Road 468.
The tower was recommended for approval in October by Special Magistrate Grant Watson, but it never reached the city commission.
Watson recommended it again contingent on a guarantee that it will have an inward-crumbling design. If the tower falls, that design means it will collapse onto itself instead of damaging nearby objects.
Kevin Wright of NexTower, a Gainesville company that will build the tower, told Watson he will produce documentation of the tower design.
“We can get that structural letter probably by the end of today,” he said.
Fenney residents have complained by spotty cell phone service and the nearest towers are in Bushnell and at Lake Panasoffkee. It is not clear which carriers will be on the new tower.
Some residents have connected their phones through the Internet to improve coverage while others have opted for land lines.
