Cell service for OP? Time to get on with it

 “No Verizon cell tower will be erected on county property in Ocean Pines, following the Worcester County Commissioners’ rejection Tuesday of a lease agreement that fell far short of what the commissioners expected.

—Dec. 6, 2018, Bayside Gazette

Not quite six and a half years ago, the county commissioners killed a deal to allow the Maryland company, Calvert Crossland, build a cell tower on its wastewater treatment plant property in Ocean Pines.

Their reasons: the tower space the company had reserved for the county’s use was less than the commissioners thought; Ocean Pines’ commissioner representatives Chip Bertino and Jim Bunting said residents didn’t like the idea of a 160-foot-tall tower in their midst.

But whether the commissioners’ decision was right or wrong at the time, the problem that brought the county and the tower company together continues … and will only get worse.

The spotty to nonexistent cell service in the Ocean Pines area must be dealt with. It is a matter of public safety, as Police Chief Tim Robinson has been pointing out since last fall, when he advised the board of directors that residents and visitors must be able to call 911 in emergencies.

It’s difficult to argue that a cell tower’s possible effects on property values and its jarring interruption of the wooded scenery are more important than these potential downsides when lives and property are at stake.

Besides, according to CNET, only 28% of American households have a landline telephone these days, and while those percentages might not hold for Ocean Pines, the numbers do show that world is moving on and that Ocean Pines’ opposition to a cell tower in the community is becoming less logical as time passes.