Atlas Twp. – Representatives from Genesee County’s 911 Consortium no longer plan to address residents at the April 21 Atlas Township meeting.
Plans to build the 911 tower have been put on hold, said Lloyd Fayling, Genesee County 911 director. A 300-foot non-guyed metal lattice tower was previously planned for the southern side of the Genesee County Road Commission property, located near Gale and Hegel roads.
Parents expressed discomfort at having the tower situated so close to three of the Goodrich schools, said Fayling.Although constructing a new tower has not yet been ruled out, the 911 Consortium is currently investigating the possibility of co-locating the 800 MHz equipment on an existing tower located near Kipp and Washburn roads in Atlas Township.
The 928-feet-tall tower currently broadcasts television signals for WFUM, the public television station overseen by the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.
Locating 800 MHz equipment on towers in four locations throughout Genesee County, in conjunction with the Michigan State Police communication system, will provide a vital link between emergency personnel. Once installed, firefighters and police officers will be able to communicate between emergency vehicles and personnel, even in dense buildings. In addition, the system will ensure all firefighters can be paged, and enable ‘talk groups? to be set up among individual or multiple emergency departments, meaning local fire and police won’t have to wait for radio time.
Fayling met with WFUM station manager Jay Nelson, then commissioned a tower-load analysis, which should take place over the next few weeks, Fayling said.
According to a previously completed 20-year cost analysis, the cost of building a new tower in Atlas Township is estimated at $284,800.Costs for co-locating on the WFUM tower have not yet been discussed, said Fayling.