Vote Delayed on Lease Agreement for Lattice Tower in Gladwyne Park

The Lower Merion Board of Commissioners Building and Planning Committee tabled a vote on whether to recommend that the full board authorize the township manager to extend AT&T/New Cingular Wireless’ lease agreement to use the Lattice Tower at Gladwyne Park for wireless communications.

Commissioner Scott Zelov suggested that a vote on the lease extension be tabled so that the township would have more time to negotiate the lease. 

If approved, the lease agreement would be amended to allow AT&T/New Cingular Wireless to use the tower at 915 Youngs Ford Road for three additional five-year terms beginning in 2012, said Bob Duncan, the township’s building and planning director.

The lease expired in 2011, but the township granted AT&T a one-year extension until it was able to negotiate the terms of a new, long-term lease, Duncan said.

Under the new agreement, AT&T/New Cingular Wireless is proposing to pay the township $1,750 per month for the initial five-year lease term (beginning in August 2012 and ending in 2017), $1,900 per month for the first renewal term (2017-2022), and $2,050 per month for the second renewal term (2022-2027).

The monthly rent under the old lease, which was last revised in 1993 was: $1,150 for the initial five-year term, $1,300 for the first renewal term, $1,400 for the second renewal term, and $1,600 for the third renewal term.

Zelov said the amount of rent which AT&T is proposing under the new lease amounts to about a 1 percent increase per year.

“I don’t think it’s enough,” Zelov said.