Cell towers may be in the works for Crested Butte South

Decommissioning current equipment will make cell service even worse

By Katherine Nettles

(Editor’s note: The meeting on Wednesday, January 8 will have already happened at the time of this publication. We will have a recap of that meeting next week).

The familiar refrain of dropped calls and spotty cellular service in Crested Butte South may soon be remedied as the CB South Property Owners Association looks at placing cell towers in the subdivision with fresh momentum after several other endeavors in the past have failed due to lack of a location. This time, the goal is to install towers at one of two locations at Red Mountain Park to ensure better emergency service connectivity as some old equipment is decommissioned in 2025. 

The idea would be to place towers within Red Mountain Park in locations where potential future park renovations would not be affected, while increasing both emergency service connectivity and general cellular connectivity for the public in an area that is otherwise notorious for lack of cell service aside from private Internet connections. 

The process is still in the initial phase of planning, but ComNet Communications has approached the POA board with a proposal to place cell towers within the park at two potential locations near the tennis courts and the hockey rink. 

POA board president Andrew Sandstrom summarized the situation: “Basically there is a desire to put some cell towers in Red Mountain Park. There is a piece of equipment that has to be decommissioned per federal guidelines because the equipment came from China. The CB Fire Protection District is concerned that there will be little to no ability to make emergency calls once that goes away (not that I think there is much ability to now). The CB South Board has expressed their interest in allowing the towers, we have just asked for some renderings of the project and possible locations so that we can post those publicly before we make a final decision,” said Sandstrom of the process earlier this winter. 

The board received an initial presentation from ComNet, which does the engineering and tower lease, during their November 13 meeting. ComNet then sent renderings of the potential towers and locations at the end of December which was to be reviewed and discussed at the POA meeting on Wednesday, January 8. Sandstrom said they are also waiting to see renderings of the utility boxes that would accompany towers, and there will be an opportunity for public input prior to making any decisions.