Small cells might mean big upgrade in phone service at Lakewood Ranch

Gilbert J. Pearce, an 88-year-old Korean War veteran who serves as a community development district supervisor at Lakewood Ranch, proudly never owned a cell phone.

At least not until recently.

Then, at the insistence of Elizabeth Pearce, his wife of more than 60 years, he got one from one of the nation’s leading carriers. Just one problem: It didn’t work at Lakewood Ranch.

Nor did the second one he got from another of the cell phone competitors.

That may be an extreme example of the difficulties that Lakewood Ranch residents have with their cell phone service. But it underscores the dissatisfaction with cell service that sometimes flares at district supervisor meetings.

Alan Roth, who serves as a supervisor on both Community Development District 1, serving the Summerfield and Riverwalk villages, and the Inter-District Authority, which oversees operations at Lakewood Ranch Town Hall, talked about the issue during Tuesday’s board meetings.

“The cellular coverage here is so bad,” Roth said, wistfully noting that small cell technology offers the promise of improvement.

Sarasota-based USA Groups appeared before Lakewood Ranch supervisors in December and proposed introducing several low wattage cell towers that would boost the level of service in the community.

USA Group would pay for the new infrastructure and recoup its investment from cell carriers that use it.

Manatee County commissioners have said that the small cells can be installed on existing poles in county right of way, but no new poles can be added, said Anne Ross, town hall executive director.

Complicating the issue is that separate bills regulating small cell utilities are now working their way through the Florida House and Senate, Ross said.

“At this time there is not a big rush for us. We should hold off and see where the bills go,” Ross said.

Tom Green, chair of the Inter-District Authority, suggested that Town Hall retain a consultant who can impartially make recommendations to supervisors as they move toward bringing small cell technology to Lakewood Ranch.

“Let’s get to work on it and do something smart. It’s getting frustrating,” Roth said in agreement.

For the record, Gilbert Pearce now uses a cell phone offered by a major national discount store. For $13 a month, he says his cell phone works just fine.

In other business Monday, Ross reported on several events planned for the near future:

• A food drive and shred day is planned for 9 a.m. on April 29 at Lakewood Ranch Town Hall.
• Town Hall will host the Florida Department of Transportation briefing on how to navigate the diverging diamond now under construction at Interstate 75 and University Parkway at 5 p.m. May 1.
• The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission will present a program on alligators at 6 p.m. May 3.

This story was originally published April 18, 2017 at 1:23 PM with the headline "Small cells might mean big upgrade in phone service at Lakewood Ranch."