Hello and welcome.

I work as a wireless (cellular) tower site development professional in the Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and (sometimes) Pennsylvania areas since 1997. On occasion, I travel within the continental United States to consult on projects outside my normal operating area. Hence, I am the towerguy.

My first experience in wireless site development was on a Self-Storage property in Ohio, where certain problems arose within the deal. I was dispatched to help resolve the issues and close the deal.

My second experience with Self-Storage was in helping my mother, a Self-Storage Manager in Houston, Texas, to get a Sprint PCS tower lease for her storage facility.

Since then, I have worked with many Self-Storage owners and operators to site new towers within their property. It certainly is a different side of the business for me, and the years since have allowed to me understand your side of the business much better.

I'm happy to be able to be a part of this venue, and perhaps I can even be helpful to some of you.

Regards,

towerguy

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Over 1000 towers served and growing.

Hello towerguy,

If you don't mind me asking; How would a self storage facility go about obtaining a wireless tower lease?

Not Quite Freezing, here in the Inland Northwest,
Heather

I have a feeling you will be popular around here.

I would love to get a tower at our location, but not real sure how to go about it. Still trying to do more research, but sometimes you luck into someone how has the knowledge. If you get some time please e-mail me. Maybe we can work together and get you out to sunny southern California for awhile!

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Wayne
All American Self Storage
Palmdale, CA.
webmaster@all-americanselfstorage.com

Thanks for the warm welcome.

I've had several self-storage owners (including Mom) suggest that I put together something a bit more formalized that would help self-storage owners & managers pursue cell-sites. I had originally planned to attend the Inside Self-Storage Expo in Las Vegas, so that I could learn more about the business from the other side. I'm busy working on new tower sites, though, so it will need to wait until next year.

There are many things developing right now that are going to provide greater need for cellular tower sites in the next 3 years. There are new licenses being issued, and many new bidders in an FCC license auction RIGHT NOW. Google is probably the biggest new entrant bidding on licenses, but over 200 entities were approved for the auction. You can check on the results here:https://auctionbidding.fcc.gov/aucti...!1201478957104
The FCC also changed the rules on location-based accuracy standards, which again means more towers (the detailed explanation isn't worth the time).

To your question about how to get a cell-tower site for your business, I suggest that you start with your local zoning office. This may be called the engineering, planning, development, etc. office in your area, but you're looking for the folks who control what you can and cannot build on your property. Ask them who has approached them in the last 12-18 months about cell sites (not just towers). Have there been any zoning applications filed, or perhaps any inquiries? Check the minutes of zoning and city council meetings about tower sites in the past in the same (or nearby) jurisdictions. You're looking for people like me, commonly referred to as site acquisition agents. If you can get the attention of a zoning person, they may even have a few business cards from the people you want to contact.

Also, while you are at the zoning office, pick up a copy of the zoning code and zoning (or zone) map. If you're ever having trouble sleeping, reading your zoning code will put you right to sleep. Your goal in reading the code is to learn where towers are permitted, and see if your site works. Start in the Definitions section, so you understand how they look at towers.

These contacts and public records are there if you're willing to take the time. When you find a name, use it. Contacting the wireless companies directly rarely, if ever, produces results. They contract with people like me to handle the site search and development for them. You need to find the site development folks in your area. When you find one, ask them about any others that they know of working the area. Ask them who they work with, and if any new sites are needed now or in the future. Your goal is to get to know them, who they work for, and at some point, to let them know about your property. They won't come and see your site, but if you can build rapport, they should be willing to keep your site information on file. Check back with them every three months.

I wish you luck, and if this route doesn't help, we can always try something a little bit more involved.

Regards,

towerguy

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Over 1000 towers served and growing.

Hello Tower Guy,
I have a related but different question for you. We have had a tower at our facility for many years and it does help, along with other things, to keep us afloat during slow times.Just recently a new sign was posted at the bottom of the tower warning about radio waves. I called our "tower guy" and asked what exactly the risk was. He told me there was actually no risk to the people on the ground, that was just a warning for the technicians. Is that true? Thank You!

Hi Silverpaws:

I'll answer the question if you explain your screen name...

Signs such as the RF warning are required for people who work on towers. It's an OSHA warning sign, essentially. Spending signifcant periods of time directly in front of any antenna at a distance of just a few feet could cause problems in limited cases. The safety standards are set so high, that you'd really need to work at hurting yourself. The antennas themselves only put out about 60-300 watts. (A typical light buld puts out up to 150 watts)

The most likely answer is that the current tower owner recognized that they were short of a required notice sign, and simply added the sign. Your tower guy told you the truth.

a good question

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Over 1000 towers served and growing.

Hey all, just a reminder that the Inside Self-Storage website has an archive of articles, several that pertain to cell towers. Log on and do a search on "cell towers" for more info.

Ha Ha....Silverpaws was a knick name for a dog I used to have. Her real name was Cinnamon and she had white paws not silver (?). She was so smart she could tell what I was saying by my facial expressions and hand signals...ha ha, that could be good or bad.....a golden retriever. You thought it was going to be interesting hah!
Thanks for filling me in on the radio waves...Although useful, I didn't want to go home glowing at night! The owner of our tower is AT & T Spectrum.