Call for more (cell phone) bars in Lakewood Ranch

USA Cran has abandoned its quest to bring its small-cell technology to the Lakewood Ranch area, now that Verizon Wireless and AT&T have applied for permits with Manatee County to install their own small-cell technology in Lakewood Ranch.

“We are in the process of deploying small cells around Lakewood Ranch,” Verizon spokeswoman Kate Jay said. “Small cells are important tools to enhance our 4G LTE network and are designed to complement traditional cell sites or towers. They are placed strategically to meet data capacity demand in areas of high customer usage. In many locations, small cells are hiding in plain sight on existing structures like city traffic lights or utility poles.”

Seventeen small-cell structures are in permitting for public right of ways in the East County area, with locations primarily along Lakewood Ranch Boulevard and Lorraine Road in the area between University Parkway and Malachite Drive, according to county permitting documents. Two are located along River Club Boulevard.

Verizon has 15 sites in permitting, including some near Main Street at Lakewood Ranch.

AT&T currently has two — one at the southwest corner of Lorraine Road and State Road 70 and the other on Lakewood Ranch Boulevard, north of The Masters Avenue.

At Community Development District meetings last week, supervisors said they would have to wait to see whether service would improve. Proposed locations by Verizon and AT&T do not encroach into neighborhoods, so whether the planned locations will offer relief is not known. The circumference of coverage for each small-cell pole is less than a quarter of a mile.

“It doesn’t seem like it is going to mitigate our problem at all,” CDD 1 Supervisor Preston Olinger said. “It’s like a Band-Aid around the periphery.”

Supervisors representing residents in the Country Club at Lakewood Ranch also hope more can be done.

Tom Green, supervisor for Lakewood Ranch Community Development District 2 and chairman for the Inter-District Authority Board, which oversees common issues for CDDs 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6, said he expects the addition of small-cell poles will enhance coverage for Lakewood Ranch residents along Lakewood Ranch Boulevard and State Road 70 based on the submitted permits. However, residents located farther within those neighborhoods likely won’t see an impact. That will be especially true for residents of the Country Club at Lakewood Ranch, whose streets are owned by the CDD and are not considered public right-of-way.

Green said he hopes cellular carriers will reevaluate and possibly expand their proposed locations to include sites within the Country Club, where residents have trouble with getting quality cell service.

“All we can do at this point is let the carriers develop their plans and let them know we’re more than willing to talk to them about having the [poles] within Lakewood Ranch Country Club boundaries,” Green said.

Lakewood Ranch Community Development Districts 1, 2, 5 and 6 had contracted with USA Cran in August 2018 as the exclusive provider of small-cell technology in Phase 1 Lakewood Ranch in hopes of ensuring any small-cell technologies installed would blend in with the community.

USA Cran had agreed to certain aesthetic requirements for its proposed small-cell poles, which would have supported cellular companies like Verizon through a rental agreement. USA Cran twice asked to extend its contract with the CDDs because it could not get enough cellular providers to commit to a contract.

Over the past year, Lakewood Ranch Town Hall officials also encouraged Lakewood Ranch residents to rally and contact their cellular providers and the Federal Communications Commission to try to improve service in the area. Although residents reported little to no response from the carriers, Town Hall Executive Director Anne Ross said it did have an impact.

“I think we rattled the cages enough to get noticed by the cellular service providers,” she said.

USA Cran had identified about 40 locations for small-cell technology throughout Lakewood Ranch, including areas north of S.R. 70.

Ross said USA Cran’s plan might have offered a more holistic approach to solving some of Lakewood Ranch’s cellular communication problems. She doesn’t know if Verizon or AT&T have similar plans.

One thing has been a given: Lakewood Ranch residents have been unhappy with spotty and sometimes nonexistent coverage.