The township board will retain their lease rights on a cell tower located on Seymour Lake Road property.
Communications Capital Group recently sought to purchase the lease rights, offering the township $758,333.33, but the board agreed during their March 4 meeting that declining the offer was in the township’s best interest.
‘I don’t think it’s a good time to sell,? said Supervisor Kathy Thurman. ‘The lease money keeps increasing. It looks like we will be able to collect lease payments on the cell tower for many years.?
As lease owner, the township currently collects $65,000 annually from wireless carriers American Tower Corporation, AT&T and T-Mobile. The amount collected increases 3 percent annually.
Thurman cites a Michigan Townships Association article that discusses ‘how lucrative? it is to own cell tower rights.
The township has been approached by Verizon to be a carrier on the tower, but a contract agreement has not yet been reached. Thurman said the property on which the cell tower is located, near Sashabaw Road, may also come up for sale soon, as the property owners aren’t currently paying their property taxes.