Creston delays wireless tower construction

Creston School has delayed construction of a wireless internet tower on its property in order to hold a public commenting period. The recommendation to hold a public commenting period will go before the board at a meeting currently scheduled for next week.

MontanaSky Networks had planned to begin construction this month of a 118-foot tall monopole at 131 Creston Road on a 40-by-40-foot easement. The site is less than an eighth of a mile from the kindergarten through sixth-grade school. The tower site is on property deeded to the district in 1994 by the estate of Eaner and Etta Higgins for school purposes.

According to an agreement with MontanaSky that was unanimously approved by the school board June 7, “MontanaSky Networks will install a tower, equipment, equipment shelter and any number of radio transmitting and receiving antennas without restriction (but subject to permit and regulatory approval) for the purpose of radio and other electronic telecommunication.”

Plans included painting the monopole green and landscaping in efforts to blend the equipment with its surroundings.

MontanaSky will cover construction costs estimated to be $150,000 up to $200,000. The company also reserved the right “to maintain, repair or upgrade the facilities at any time without restriction,” as part of the current agreement. Once infrastructure is in place, MontanaSky CEO Ryan Bowman said he is confident it will meet the school’s bandwidth demands over the next decade without significant infrastructure improvements.

In exchange for locating the tower on school property, MontanaSky will pay Creston School $1,000 in monthly rent, according to the original agreement. In lieu of rent money, Creston will receive broadband service. The school’s internet speed will be approximately six times faster with the upgrade Bowman estimated.

The agreement also grants Creston the ability to renegotiate rates and services every five years. The easement would exist indefinitely unless MontanaSky terminates it. If the school district switched providers, MontanaSky would continue paying rent and maintaining the infrastructure, Bowman said.

The decision to set a comment period follows a heated community forum held at the school July 19. As a result, the school board met July 23 to make revisions to the agreement in response to concerns.

Creston Principal Tami Ward and school board chairman Matt Hartle didn’t anticipate the blow-back, but acknowledged an oversight of communicating plans to the public outside of school board meetings.

Ward said the district expected the communication to occur through MontanaSky during a permitting process. This didn’t occur however, as the company learned a permit was not necessary since the area had no zoning.

Upgrading the internet at Creston School has been a topic of discussion for some time. The school had previously sought bids for internet upgrades, which proved to be cost prohibitive, Ward said. This led to a conversation with MontanaSky, which has been Creston’s internet service provider for the past 12 years, she said.

Yet, it wasn’t until recently that residents learned about plans and vocalized concerns at the forum. A top concern was that the proposed tower would block views and negatively impact property values.

There is also value to improving wireless internet access and speed to the rural community, according to Bowman. Residences in the tower’s “line of sight,” an estimated 10 miles in each direction, will have the ability to access broadband services. And the need is there, he said, noting that MontanaSky gets requests for broadband service in the area on a regular basis.

As a result of the agreement revisions made Monday, Hartle said the tower would be moved approximately 150 feet west of the initially proposed location as a solution to the concerns with obstructed views to nearby residences.

Another revision is that the agreement no longer includes a provision to allow another telecommunications provider — namely, cellular service providers — to install equipment on the tower in exchange for 40 percent of generated revenue going to the school. There had been some concerns raised about the potential health impacts from exposure to the radio frequency waves emitted by cellular equipment.

Overall, Hartle said the original intent of the plan was to meet the needs of students and staff while generating revenue from a source other than state and taxpayer money.

“It felt like we were hitting all cylinders. School staff and students got what they needed without going to the taxpayers, and we’re giving the community a whole new service it could use,” Hartle said.

He said it is incredibly difficult for small, rural schools to come up with the amount of money needed to install this level of infrastructure to meet the technology demands of modern education without going to the taxpayers.

Ward estimated that around 100 devices may be accessing the internet at once on a daily basis during the school year. The current bandwidth and speed is inadequate according to Ward, which means advance planning is necessary to ensure uninterrupted service — especially when computerized state testing is going on. After the upgrade, Bowman said the school should be able to have every device online without problem.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.