BRENTWOOD, Tenn. (WTVF) — Brentwood city leaders are taking steps to improve cell phone service and eliminate dead zones by relaxing city rules for cell towers.
Poor cell service is one of the top issues Brentwood Mayor Nelson Andrews hears about from neighbors, second only to traffic.
"Brentwood is becoming a one bar town so we started asking why," Andrews said.
The city does not provide cell phone service, but it regulates the infrastructure. The city commission recently took steps to relax rules to address how to place cell towers in the city.
"This ice storm we just had one power went out and people lost their home service. They reminded us how important the cellular voice and data is for safety for basic communication for a number of things," Andrews said.
If approved by the planning commission, a cell phone tower will likely be installed at the Brentwood Police Department. Andrews hopes the new tower will be installed within the year.
The new towers will be limited to 160 feet, which Andrews noted will not be anywhere close to the height of the WSM tower. Applicants must also notify property owners within 1,000 feet of a proposed tower site.
"We didn’t change any of the parameters to allow for a free-for-all to go on," Andrews said.
"We don't have a cloak of invisibility for the cell phone tower, but I do hope it will be a minor change for a big improvement for cellular voice and data service," Andrews said.
For residents like Beth Feltus, the lack of service is noticeable during visits to Crockett Park.
"We usually do loop here take a break stop," Feltus said. "I guess the cell service is lacking a little bit...But every now and then when we were here for a softball game for a granddaughter, you can’t get a signal we’re trying to reach out to our daughter to meet up and stuff like that...It’s obviously needed. We have lots of areas where their spots you can’t get service not just here a Crockett Park," Feltus said.
As Brentwood waits for more towers and more bars, park-goers will just get to enjoy the ride.
This story was reported on-air by Amanda Roberts and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
