A wireless tower developer is seeking a special exception from Fairfax County for a 175-foot monopole to be constructed on the grounds of a private girls’ school in McLean in hopes of remedying unreliable cell service on the property and along Georgetown Pike.
The application from Milestone Towers, submitted jointly with the Madeira School on Oct. 28, seeks to place the tower in a “secluded and forested portion” of the school’s 376-acre property, located at 8328 and 8134 Georgetown Pike.
“While general infrastructure in the surrounding area has improved since The Madeira School established its campus on the Property, the wireless infrastructure has not kept up with cellular growth and demand,” a statement of justification for the application says, “resulting in ‘dead zones’ where cellular service is unavailable or very poor along Georgetown Pike, on The Madeira School campus, and in the surrounding residential areas.”
Filed for the applicants by the law firm Cooley LLP, the application says the poor cell phone service has become “a safety concern” for students and faculty at the day and boarding school, particularly in emergency situations.
“This lack of cellular coverage was most detrimental a few years ago during a storm which interrupted electrical service (which enables the existing cellular coverage) and terrestrial communications, and neither students nor faculty could complete a phone call,” the statement reads.
The cell tower developer proposes placing a Verizon tower and a 2-foot lightning rod inside a 2,400-square-foot “fenced compound area” screened by an 8-foot-tall vinyl fence. It would include cabinets for equipment and a generator for each of the wireless providers that plan to use the monopole.
Existing forest would provide about 1,000 feet of buffering from the nearest residential property line.
The school property presents “a unique opportunity” for Milestone due to its “large and nonresidential character,” which allows for “setbacks and buffers that are not possible anywhere in the surrounding community,” the statement says.
Milestone has also requested a special exception for another cell tower on the grounds of the Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic Church (OLGC) in Dunn Loring. The 22.9-acre site is just outside the Town of Vienna, where dead zones have long been a source of frustration.
The developer is proposing a smaller tower for the recently renovated church than at the Madeira School. It would be 145 feet tall with a 2-foot lightning rod and serve AT&T customers.
Milestone’s application also cites safety concerns as the reason for construction. The parish’s elementary school staff have been unable to obtain a wireless signal from the playground area when children were injured, for example.
“In another instance,” the statement says, “a parishioner experienced a severe allergic reaction from a bee sting and was unable to contact emergency services from the school parking lot due to the lack of wireless coverage.”
The OLGC project isn’t the only project planned for the Vienna area. This summer, the Vienna Town Council approved a new AT&T rooftop telecommunications facility that is expected to improve service along the Maple Avenue corridor.
Madeira School screenshot via Google Maps
