PALM COAST, Fla. — The building permit has been approved for the city of Palm Coast's first cell tower in years, and now residents are anxious to see it built.
- Building permit approved to build Palm Coast's new cell tower
- City says tower to be up and active no later than November
- Read more Flagler County news
Kristopher Clark said he and his son enjoy catching Pokémon, but he said if you throw in the cell phone service issues in Palm Coast, that’s sometimes hard to do.
"You crash because of cell phone service," said Clark.
Clark said it makes it hard to "catch em' all" -- and dropped calls are the norm.
"In the last three years I've switched carriers three times," said Clark.
But pretty soon, a cell tower will be built near one of the busiest sections of the city near the water treatment plant #1 near Heroes Park.
"I have two little ones at home, and if I had to make a call to a doctor, to the school, I wouldn't be able to make it because emergency calls only," said Clark.
Once construction is complete, the tower will pop up behind the trees, standing at 150 feet with four antennas that will be able to connect to cell phones.
It’s not only a nuisance, but the assistant city manager said it impacts safety.
"With more and more people cutting their landlines, of course then during storms and emergencies people are really relying on those cell phones for the form of communication to get news and updates, important information about what’s going on with a storm. So the more coverage we have, the better in those situations," said Beau Falgout, Assistant City Manager.
The last tower built on city property was in 2010, but the city said for public safety and improving service for customers, they needed to build a new one.
As a part of their wireless master plan, the city said there are at least 10 other approved tower sites.
So far AT&T is the only carrier on board for this one, but Clark said it’s a start.
"Finally; it’s taken long enough," said Clark.
There is still availability for other carriers to add onto the tower.
Palm Coast city officials said they expect the tower to be up and active no later than this coming November.