CITY OF WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA
Wireless Master Plan September 2010
Geographic Area 58.2 square miles
Duration 2009 – Present
The Challenge
The City of West Palm Beach is a coastal city with rural and urban characteristics. The western half of the City is rural with less than 1,000 people per square mile and the eastern half is urban with residential densities of 10,000 people per square mile. The City experienced tremendous wireless telecommunications growth in recent years and identified 494 City-owned properties, which they wanted evaluated for best possible use by the industry for new wireless telecommunications infrastructure.
Our Solution
The Master Plan included identifying the location of all existing antenna facilities and their corresponding signal coverage conditions. This information is compared to the locations of projected future facilities then evaluated utilizing land planning and existing public policy to determine which of the 494 properties will yield the highest and best opportunities for the City.
Key Outcomes
The City provided CityScape a list of 494 City-owned properties as potential locations for new wireless telecommunications infrastructure. From this site listing CityScape identified over one hundred (100) properties to assess as potential sites. CityScape drove to each site and evaluated the possibilities for each of these properties. Many properties were eliminated for one or more of the follow reasons:
- The lot size is too small.
- The existing land use occupies the majority of the property and there is no space remaining for a tower location.
- The existing tower is not appropriate considering the proximity of adjacent land uses.
- There is an existing tower or rooftop location that could provide an antenna attachment or collocation opportunity thereby eliminating the need to have a new tower in the vicinity.
- Multiple lots of record are available and CityScape selected the one lot that best meets industry standards.
- Staff and community members did not think the City-owned land was appropriate for wireless infrastructure.
- Deed restrictions would not permit wireless telecommunication facilities.
Consequently twenty-five (25) ideal locations were identified as potential sites for wireless facilities. Providing lease space to the wireless telecommunications industry on these properties generates revenue for the City of West Palm.
The City is currently under an update.
