State College Borough Council hears proposal to boost cell signals

For residents having trouble with cellular surfing while downtown, stronger signals may be on the way.

Borough Council heard a presentation Monday by Crown Castle International Corp., which has submitted an application to install wireless facilities within the borough. The 12 proposed antennas seek to boost the data capabilities of cellular users in those areas.

“Crown is preparing to make a significant investment in the wireless network and wireless infrastructure in the borough of State College,” Crown Castle representative Paul Gilbert said.

Crown Castle is the nation’s largest supplier of shared infrastructure, he said, and also provides small cell networks — focused, small-scale installations designed to serve a specific use. The need for the small installations are driven by national trends, he said, as 40 percent of homes no longer have a dedicated landline and 70 percent of 911 calls are made by a wireless device.

“This just strengthens the necessity of your wireless network being robust and reliable so those calls can go through,” he said.

A small cell network augments the larger wireless network, Gilbert said, illustrating how increased data usage can overwhelm a cell site’s capacity. By adding infrastructure, like small cell installations, cellular traffic in high-density areas becomes less congested.

Crown Castle proposes adding small cellular antennas to the existing structures in the borough. Nine of the antennas would sit on borough-owned streetlights in the downtown area from High Street to Burrowes Street. The remaining three would be located in the Highlands neighborhood.

The antennas would provide service through all the major cellular service providers, he said, “matching the existing aesthetic of the neighborhoods,” and would provide “cutting-edge 4G network to the borough’s residents and businesses in the least impactful way possible.”

According to borough Manager Tom Fountaine, Crown Castle would pay a $1,200 annual fee for the use agreement and $900 per structure. Funds gathered would go toward the borough’s general fund.

Cable installation would require some construction, Crown representatives said. It’s unknown at this time how much construction would be required and for how long.

Council will vote on a final draft of a use agreement and consider approval of the support structure rental agreement at a later date.

In other business, council unanimously endorsed the Allen Street Civic District redevelopment plan and approved the State College Town Center proposal.

In May, council authorized the Planning Commission and Redevelopment Authority to study redevelopment opportunities for the former Verizon Building and other sites within the 200 block of South Allen Street, according to a council briefing summary.

The plan inventories the conditions of the proposed civic districts and provides conceptual site plans for redevelopment, Fountaine said. A public hearing was held Oct. 19.

The next step is soliciting development proposals under the State College Town Center portion of the plan for the Verizon and First National Bank sites, he said. The Allen Street parking lot may or may not also be part of the development, depending on what the final proposals are.

This story was originally published November 2, 2015 at 10:27 PM with the headline "State College Borough Council hears proposal to boost cell signals."