Residents living in south Arlington near Timberview High School in the Mansfield Independent School District soon will have improved wireless coverage. 

Arlington City Council voted unanimously Sept. 17 to approve a new 105-foot telecommunications tower to be built near the high school’s baseball field. 

Verizon will build the tower on about 1,600 square feet of leased space at 7700 S. Watson Road, generally located south of York Avenue and west of South Watson Road. 

Alec Broadus of Arlington-based Broadus Services told City Council the tower is needed to provide adequate telecommunications coverage in that area of the city.

“This site was given to us two years ago by Verizon to go find a location where they can improve coverage and capacity in this area of Arlington, Mansfield area,” Broadus said. 

Broadus said that currently, there are two cell towers to the north of this site, “but they didn’t meet the capacity or the coverage that was required.”

Broadus, whose company was hired to help with location acquisition, said the applicants had agreed to an Arlington Planning & Zoning Commission request to move the tower’s location back 5 feet and place landscaping by the fence facing to the west. Other telecommunications companies will be able to attach equipment to the tower, Broadus said. 

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