Posted 10/10/12 – Nearly twenty-six months after AT&T Director of External Affairs Richard Roche appeared before the Sierra Madre City Council to discuss the addition of two new cell towers for Sierra Madre, one in the east, one in the west, in July of 2010, the City Council approved the lease agreement language for the AT&T co-location project at 611 E. Sierra Madre Blvd., in the City yards. Once signatures have been received, the paperwork will be done. According to Development Services Director Danny Castro, “AT&T revised their original plans in August with an upgrade – that building plan check is now complete. The next step for them is to pull a building permit.” The City yard cell tower is expected to improve service on the east end of town.
Also, according to Castro, “The contractor for the Methodist Church cell tower just called this afternoon to request for final inspection.” That tower, located at the corner of Michillinda and Sierra Madre Blvd., is expected to improve service at the west side of town. Development Services says that inspection will probably take place Monday. According to SMDS, once approved, it’s up to AT&T to decide when to take the tower live.
After multiple calls to AT&T trying to get an update on the status of the two towers, we received a statement via e-mail from their public affairs office in San Francisco yesterday. It said, simply, “AT&T continues to work with the city to get these sites on air as soon as possible.”
Update – The inspection of the Methodist Church tower took place last week, and it did not pass. AT&T must now make corrections to allow it to pass, and call for re-inspection. As of yesterday, 10/24, they had not yet called for the re-inspection.
The lease with the City for the co-location at the City Yard tower has now been signed, so AT&T can pick up their permit to begin work, however, as of yesterday, they had not yet done so.
Thanks, Bill. Please continue to keep us posted on this very frustrating issue.
Nice to see some movement finally!