TO: Mayor Collins and Town Council Members
FROM: Brian Dalke, Interim Town Manager
Dawn Marie Buckland, Deputy Town Manager
DATE: December 6, 2018
DEPARTMENT: Town Manager
Staff Contact Dawn Marie Buckland, 480.348.3555
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AGENDA TITLE:
Title
Update from Cell Coverage Task Force
Body
Council Goals
Quality of Life - Maintain and Improve the Paradise Valley quality of life
SUMMARY STATEMENT:
Cell coverage is a widely known problem throughout Paradise Valley, with coverage issues in some ways manifesting themselves differently in the Town than in other markets. While the Town is centrally located in a major metropolitan area, there is significantly less density than in the surrounding areas. The very mountains that provide stunning backdrops also serve as barriers to signals. The Town's undergrounding efforts restored beautiful desert vistas, necessarily limiting traditional methods of resolving coverage issues in the process.
In January 2016, the Town Council established cell coverage as a Quality of Life initiative, and set out to identify opportunities to improve cell coverage while preserving the Town's iconic desert and mountain views. The resulting task force met with industry representatives, evaluated and benchmarked efforts from other cities, commissioned a radio frequency (RF) study, developed and published a Request for Information (RFI), and reached out to our Special Use Permit (SUP) properties to share the Town's efforts and gauge levels of interest. Nearly all of the SUP properties expressed an interest in working with the Town and looking for ways to connect with the industry.
Recently, the task force engaged in "listening sessions" with those that responded to the RFI. While there were some specific technological needs that differed between carriers, there were many common themes:
1. Industry appreciates our outreach - they found the "listening session" meetings unique, proactive, and refreshing
2. Industry we met with un...
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