Taylor cell service set to improve
Residents near Taylor High School may soon have improved cell service, according to an update from the latest City Council meeting.
A 150-foot monopole wireless telecommunications facility is in the planning stages for installation on Taylor Independent School District property behind the high school baseball field, the council learned Sept. 24.
The city still has to approve any permits.
“You’re going to see you may have two bars (of cell service) now at the high school. That’s going to go down to zero when you throw in 500 more homes,” said Katie Harms, site acquisitions manager for developer Diamond Communications LLC.
Also during the Thursday council session, city officials began consideration of funding for another water main to serve the city and local industry that will call for a tax-abatement vote.
Meanwhile, Harms added further development and construction on the future University of Texas-Taylor Center campus adjacent to the high school will also bog down existing cell service.
“My daughter just graduated from high school and that was a common gripe, that she didn’t have service,” said Councilwoman Heather Long. “I couldn’t get in touch with her.”
Diamond Communications has a partnership with the Texas Association of School Boards and signed contracts with 80 independent school districts in Texas including nearby Hutto, according to Harms.
The Taylor ISD partnership allows the firm to lease school land to install a communications tower and gives the district a source of revenue from a previously unused parcel.
The developer has applied for a special-use permit from the city, one of the final steps before construction.
A public hearing was held at the Sept. 24 council meeting, and the issue will appear before council soon for a vote.
The pole will need to comply with Federal Communications Commission and Federal Aviation Administration rules.
The first carrier confirmed for the monopole will be Verizon, according to Harms. It will hold multiple antennas depending on which other carriers sign on to use structure.
As more carriers join, the payout to Taylor ISD will also increase.
City considers second water main funding The city is mulling a $15 million zerointerest loan from iMarketAmerica Inc. to help fund a second water line to serve the FM 619 project, which carries a total cost of $34.5 million. A branch for the city – which has only one line – could be developed later.
During Thursday’s council meeting, City Manager Brian LaBorde presented a plan for the second water main that would go directly from a Brazos River Authority facility to the iMarket site at FM 619 and U.S. 79. iMarket is the U.S. subsidiary of iMarket-Korea, South Korea’s largest maintenance, repair and operations firm.
The company is a supplier for Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., which is operating the multibillion-dollar Samsung Austin Semiconductor fabrication facility in Taylor.
The 212-acre iMarket industrial space near Samsung will be developed into 2.2 million square feet of manufacturing, warehouse, research and design space with some potential retail areas.
A proposed Chapter 312 tax abatement and related Chapter 380 fee reimbursement agreement are intended to reimburse iMarket for the $15 million.
“The reimbursement is not an additional economic development incentive or grant to iMarket, but rather a mechanism for repayment of a portion of the city’s infrastructure costs initially funded by the developer,” according to city documents.
City leaders say having only one water main line coming into town from the BRA East Williamson County Water Treatment Plant is a factor in the low water pressure some residents face.
A second water main would allow the city to better serve its water customers and would provide a backup in case the original water main fails.
An offshoot line will eventually be built coming from the main into Taylor to serve other city businesses and residents, but a city spokesman could not say when that construction would happen.
A special-called council meeting is 6 p.m. Oct. 1 at City Hall, 400 Porter St., to discuss and act on designating Tax Abatement Reinvestment Zone No. 12 for iMarket.
