World Class Wireless, LLC will make its temporary pole along Diehl Road near Eola Road permanent.
The Aurora City Council this week voted 8 to 2 — with one alderman voting present — to approve the 11-foot, 11-inch pole at 2800 Diehl Road. The temporary pole now will be permanent, with a house around it, a security fence and landscaping.
In addition, approval now puts the company in a position to find a partner to develop the 30 acres next to the pole and its house. World Class Wireless bought an almost 33-acre site, but only needs about two acres for the pole.
“The rest has been positioned for development,” said Bruce Goldsmith, the attorney representing World Class Wireless. “This will make this a very important piece of property.”
When the wireless company first came to Aurora in March 2016, it put up the 11-foot pole with a temporary power generator. At the time, the company wanted a 75-foot tower, but the city had a moratorium on towers while it was putting together an ordinance to cover telecommunications installations.
The installation was somewhat of a mystery, because it was entirely on private property and most of the city’s regulation discussion of poles at the time was for public right-of-way.
“It was totally in compliance with what was in at the time,” Goldsmith said.
World Class Wireless, like many companies interested in the area, wanted to be as close as possible to CyrusOne across the street, a data storage company that stores and processes information for the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, as well as nine foreign financial exchanges.
Goldsmith said the company waited for the city to put together a prototype license agreement. Originally, the company applied for a master license, which would have allowed it to apply for permits for installations all over town.
But on Nov. 14 of this year, the City Council turned down the company’s application for a master license. Aldermen said they were concerned about the proliferation of towers in the area, as well as giving the company a license for multiple installations around town.
The city now has a telecommunications ordinance that, among other things, encourages companies to co-locate on existing towers.
A week later, World Class Wireless submitted a new application, this time for a license that is site-specific — it applies only to the pole at the Diehl Road site. The company also added language that said in the future, it would be willing to look at co-locating on another tower, or allowing other companies to co-locate with them.
“One site, one location, one 11-foot, 11-inch tower,” Goldsmith said.
That was not enough for Ald. Rick Mervine, 8th Ward, who said while the company made progress with its second application, the co-location language is just that — it does not provide “impetus” for the company to co-locate in the future.
“Every time another pole or tower comes in, it makes it more difficult for us in the future, and discourages co-location,” Mervine said.
Mervine, along with Ald. Ted Mesiacos, 3rd Ward, voted against the proposal this time. Ald. Tina Bohman, 1st Ward, voted present.
Other aldermen said they thought World Class Wireless did enough in its second application to warrant getting the license. Ald. Bill Donnell, 4th Ward, voted against the proposal the first time, but said this time “it seems like a reasonable thing.”
“I’m excited about the development around it,” he said.
Ald. Judd Lofchie, 10th Ward, whose ward includes the location, praised the company for making changes and working with the city.
“They’ve worked really, really hard,” he said. “I think they’ve done what they can.”
Ald. Carl Franco, 5th Ward, said the city should not turn down businesses that meet the city’s requirements.