At Tuesday night’s Blairsville borough council meeting, discussions continued on where to locate a Verizon communications tower.
Verizon wanted to locate the tower at the fire hall, but most borough residents in attendance of the public hearing on the issue opposed this location. The council and representatives of Verizon are now considering three more options for placing it near the borough building, though Borough Manager Tim Evans says only one of those options is feasible.
The council is expected to vote against placing the tower at the fire hall at their June 19th meeting. They plan also to recess and hold another public hearing at 6:30 PM that evening concerning the tower’s placement near the borough building. A vote for this potential location is expected then in July.
Verizon wishes for the tower to be placed somewhere it can provide service to areas in and around southern Blairsville. Police Chief Michael Allman attested that coverage there is spotty:
“A couple times, instances, especially when I’m down on South Walnut Street, or the south end of Blairsville, phone calls would drop, especially if I was on 911 or talking to EMS, or someone like that. And I’ve had numerous residents complain the same thing, that they’ve had dropped calls. So I’m worried about it as a problem, especially for people who have a cell phone down on the trail area.”
In other news, the council voted to return $46,000 in escrow money to Fox’s Pizza Den, as demolition of its East Market Street location that caught fire in January has been completed.
And, the council authorized Evans and solicitor Robert Bell to bid on the property at 276 Morewood Avenue in a repository sale, for the purpose of its eventual demolition. The minimum bid is $1,000.
