Boca Raton, FL – Boca Raton city council members voted 3-2 to approve a plan to construct a 400-foot
communication tower to improve public safety, as part of an inter-local agreement between the
city and county, last month.
The 40-story emergency radio tower will be paid for and owned by the city but managed by the
county on the Municipal Golf Course, instead of having two 200-foot towers for both the city and
county.
Local residents object to the three-million-dollar price tag and question if it’s Boca Raton’s
responsibility to pay for the tower.
Locals are calling for the tower to be reduced to 200-feet, which in comparison, costs
approximately $380 thousand, according to Ele Zachariades, an urban planning attorney.
“What you all do, is really a third-party transaction. It’s not your money, it’s our money. It’s our
money that’s being spent. It’s not your money. It just seems like you guys tend to really just want
to spend money, and you wouldn’t want to spend this if it wasn’t coming out of your pocket,
personally. But you all get paid at the end of the day, no matter what happens here,” argues Sue
Trombino, Boca Raton resident.
An online petition created by “Keep West Boca Beautiful” has gained over 800 signatures and
specifies that the tower “reduces property values and wastes millions of local tax dollars.”
With three existing towers situated between the Turnpike and Glades road, the proposed tower
will replace a shorter 40-year-old tower, considered “un-rebuildable” by George Brown, Deputy
City Manager.
If approved, the project is set to be completed by Oct. 2020.
By Israel Fontoura