INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — T-Mobile customers soon could find improved cell coverage in the Vero Beach area after the Board of County Commissioners approved an agreement for a cell tower on the Historic Dodgertown site.
The mobile carrier still needs to get the required permits from the City of Vero Beach before a tower could be placed on the property.
The cell tower would replace an existing light pole. Under the terms of the agreement, the tower will include the lighting that would otherwise be displaced.
Commissioners did not discuss the matter and unanimously approved staff recommendation to accept the 10-year agreement. The County will have the ability to extend the agreement as many as four times in 5-year increments – effectively creating a 30-year agreement.
T-Mobile will pay the County $1,500 a month for the leased 300 square feet of space for the pole. Each year, that price will increase 4 percent.
Along with generating $18,000 a year, base, T-Mobile has agreed to split revenues it might generate through adding other cell providers to the tower. Indian River County would receive 35 percent of any license fees paid by third-party providers to T-Mobile.
When the tower could be constructed and in operation was not immediately known.
