Divided Council Votes Against Cell Towers Near Homes, But Company Could Move Forward Anyway

OCEAN CITY — Resort officials this week refused to budge on the proposed installation of small-scale cell phone towers in residential areas after an often-tense debate, but it remains to be seen if the vote for “no action” will deter the proposal.

As far back as 2015, private sector company Crown Castle announced a proposal to install as many as 90 Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS), essentially cell phone towers, at locations throughout Ocean City including many of the resort’s residential neighborhoods. The towers would range from about 18 feet to as high as 38 feet and are needed to expand bandwidth and improve Internet accessibility in the densely populated resort, particularly during the summer.

In the years since, Crown Castle has installed dozens of the towers in different locations around the downtown areas and along the Boardwalk. For the most part, the company has worked closely with the town to locate the towers in areas deemed least intrusive to residents and visitors and careful decisions on design and color schemes have largely resulted in the towers blending easily into the landscape.

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