WASHINGTON — A company interested in building dozens of new cellphone towers near schools in Prince George’s County has called off those plans.
Milestone Communications signed a deal with Prince George’s County Public Schools in 2011 in hopes of putting up cellphone towers near as many as 70 school properties.
But there has been strong opposition from the community.
“Parents raised concerns about the placement of towers on the property, some citing health concerns and others just … worried about their property values,” said Wesley Watts, the school district’s chief operating officer.
So now the deal has ended.
“Milestone actually submitted the termination to us,” Watts said. “We were being difficult, if you will, in slowing down the process and allowing the community to speak. It’s taking us longer time to make decisions, things like that. So there were some things that the vendor didn’t like.”
A statement from the chief executive officer, Dr. Kevin Maxwell, reads in part, “We believe this decision is in the best interest of our schools, students and families.”
Milestone will continue to operate cellphone towers it has already built on school property at seven locations, Watts said.
“We don’t have a cell tower provider to build cell towers on our property at this point, and quite frankly, I don’t think we’re looking for one either,” he added.
