Princeton Puts Walmart Cell Tower on Hold

Princeton will hold off on deciding whether a 155-foot cell tower can go up in the Walmart parking lot on West Princeton Drive. On Monday, Nov. 2, the Planning and Zoning Commission voted to table the request instead of approving or denying it. Commissioners want to talk it over with City Council at a joint meeting first. That meeting has not been scheduled.

The tower would sit near Beauchamp Boulevard, inside a fenced area for equipment. Walmart owns the land, and SBA Communications would own the tower. Verizon would be the main carrier, and the company's representative said the tower is built to hold more than one carrier, adding that AT&T and T-Mobile also need better coverage in the area. "Princeton is a city that's growing significantly," he told commissioners, and he said the carriers are seeing weak service along this stretch of US 380 as a result. "Even on my drive today, as I was using my phone, there were dropped calls along the way," he said.

Commissioners agreed that cell service in Princeton is a problem. "We've got a terrible cell phone coverage problem in this city. It is absolutely the worst," one commissioner said. Another put it more personally: "I use my phone. It's my lifeline." That commissioner added, though, that a 155-foot tower was not something they wanted to see in the middle of the city.