Telecommunication tower approved | News
The Ellisville City Council unanimously approved a request for a conditional use permit from Ameren in order to allow the installation and use of a 199-foot-tall monopole-style wireless telecommunications tower. A public hearing was held at the Nov. 15 meeting.
The tower will be located at 280 Old State Road. Russell Been, of Cellective Solutions, LLC and representing Ameren, said the tower will be used to form part of a private LTE (long-term evolution/4G) network throughout the state in order to extend the life of Ameren’s equipment. Other service providers have turned off their LTE networks in order to upgrade to newer networks, leaving Ameren with the choice of installing their own towers or upgrading all of its equipment.
“When other carriers turned off their LTE service there were a lot of systems that were dependent on those networks … (which) weren’t able to connect.,” Been said. “(Ameren is) hoping once they get this network on board their equipment will last 15 more years.”
Been said Ameren will eventually have 42 towers across the service area. The tower will monitor substations, meter readings and field tech communications. A security wall of at least 6 feet tall and made out of masonry construction will be installed around the equipment and tower. A landscape strip will also be installed outside of the security wall that will be at least 10 feet wide and planted with landscaping at least 6 feet tall.
