By Tara Fischer

Staff Writer

(July 24, 2025) Ocean Pines residents will have the opportunity to hear from project representatives at a town hall meeting next week, where they will detail the proposed wireless cell tower for the wooded community.

Ocean Pines is hosting a virtual town hall on Monday, July 28, from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. to discuss a potential structure in Ocean Pines that could alleviate poor cell phone reception. According to a press release issued by the Ocean Pines Association, attendees at the meeting include representatives from Milestone Towers, the contractor responsible for the tower’s construction, and Verizon Wireless, a carrier already on board to offer its services from the site.

The town hall will allow OPA residents to hear directly from representatives about Milestone Towers’ proposal to build a 130-foot monopole, along with equipment to operate the facility. If approved, officials hope that the structure will remedy spotty reception that often plagues Ocean Pines, particularly during the busy summer months.

“The project will help Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile to bring improved cell phone coverage to the Ocean Pines community,” the press release reads.

Ocean Pines Police Department Chief Tim Robinson  introduced the potential cell phone tower. Late last year, the chief stated he noticed his calls were dropping during the weekend of the Fourth of July while he was inside the neighborhood’s Food Lion. This was especially worrisome in the context of emergencies, as endangered individuals were unable to reach a 911 dispatcher.

The idea for a cell phone tower in Ocean Pines was thus born again, following the rejection of a similar idea in 2018.

“The project will help AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile bring improved coverage to your community,” the proposal reads. “The new facility will improve Internet connectivity speed and voice connectivity—especially inside homes and buildings—and help your area respond to the increasing demand for quality wireless service. Users outside of the circle may also see improved service as the new facility off-loads some of the traffic from the existing facilities in the area.”

The initiative has been slowly progressing through internal channels and has been met with some pushback.

If constructed, the tower will likely be situated behind the maintenance building on the Ocean Pines golf course, said Matt Forkas, project manager at Milestone Towers, at a board of directors meeting last month. However, at that meeting, the scope of the structure’s reach was questioned. According to Forkas, the tower will not directly benefit the entire Ocean Pines community. Initially, residents within the areas closest to the site feel improvements to their service. Others, like those in “south south” Ocean Pines, will see residual effects.

“The best impact will be in a one-mile radius, but the individuals outside that one-mile radius, you’re communicating with this tower, so there will be a growth of service even outside that service,” Robinson said at last month’s gathering.

“You may get improved service, but you may not get the most reliable service,” Forkas added.

The project manager noted that “small cell solutions” could be implemented in conjunction with the tower. These would be smaller towers, approximately 40 feet tall, mounted on light posts that could target specific streets and roads not directly impacted by the larger, central tower.

The possible cell site has also been met with some pushback from residents. At a January OPA Board of Directors meeting, homeowner Dave Tanner argued that a cell tower would disrupt Ocean Pines’ natural beauty. He added that the community is surrounded by cell coverage outside its limits, including a tower near the Ocean Pines North Gate. Tanner said that anything within the neighborhood would be overkill and that if a consumer is unhappy with their service, they should address the issue directly with the carrier.

“The Ocean Pines board needs to put an immediate halt to discussions with a contractor to erect a tower in our community,” Tanner said earlier this year. “Folks chose to live in Ocean Pines because of its natural beauty and the assurance that no commercial structures will be built in the neighborhood. Cell towers degrade property values and may have radio frequency health issues.”

Despite Tanner’s concerns, community officials maintain that OPA’s cell reception would be improved, at least to some extent, with the addition of a tower. Additionally, to address the natural beauty concern, Milestone Towers will build the structure to resemble a natural feature, such as a tree, rather than a commercial site.

If the tower is approved, cell carriers will offer service from the location, improving the spotty reception that currently exists in Ocean Pines. Forkas noted last month that Milestone Towers would bear the cost of erecting the structure. OPA would not incur any expense.

The new site could also be a way for Ocean Pines to make additional revenue. The proposal stipulates that each carrier is to pay $2,500 per month to provide service outside the structure. Milestone Towers would receive 40% of all gross revenue generated.

“In this case, we have three carriers, and after the revenue is split, it would be $36,000 annual revenue to Ocean Pines,” Forkas said.

Since last month’s meeting, the press release indicates that Sprint has signed on as well, bringing the total to four carriers.

Ocean Pines residents will have the opportunity to have their questions and concerns heard and addressed next week. Monday’s town hall will be conducted virtually and will begin at 6 p.m.

Those interested in attending the meeting can register at https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/662c0f5e-905f-405f-83e3-0ffc152d6fac@37ca2ed5-019e-4295-abbe-0f6663e955b9.

Additional project information can be found here: https://www.oceanpineswireless.com/.