[Scan-DC] Public Safety communications tower in Olney, Maryland

[Dan Veeneman]

Elrich ‘frustrated’ over process for selecting proposed site of tower

County Executive Marc Elrich expressed deep frustration with the status
of the 349-foot-tall communications tower proposed for Georgia Avenue
near the Intercounty Connector in Olney.

At a Jan. 10 press conference, Elrich (D) reiterated several times how
“frustrated” he is with the project and its process.

He said the decision as to where to place the tower has been lingering
for a long time and that the Olney site and another near Poolesville are
still under consideration for the new tower, which is part of a
statewide communications system.

Elrich said he was told the public safety system is failing.

“There are places where the signal can’t get to first responders or
first responders can’t communicate out of buildings,” he said.

He gave an example of a community meeting held in an Olney school where
communications signals could not reach from inside the school to outside
the school.

“That’s a problem,” he said. “I am frustrated because had they fully
vetted this with the community, then it would have been a lot easier to
adjust sites. Now, I am left with two sites where there is community
opposition, but moving those two sites could mean having to relay out
the rest of the system.

“Those sites are left because that is where the rest of the towers would
communicate to — they fill a hole,” he added. “If I move it, I may have
a different hole, which means I have to move a different tower. If I
move a different tower, that may mean another tower. I cannot tell you
how frustrating it is because this just unwinds to affect every tower.
And I can’t afford to have this system go down.”

...

According to SHA documents, the State of Maryland is implementing a
statewide public safety communications system known as Maryland FiRST.

The system provides seamless, interoperable communications at
large-scale events and provides a common communications platform that is
available to all local, state and federal public safety agencies that
operate within the state.

The system deployment in Montgomery County is underway and the state
worked with its county partners to identify existing communications
towers that could be used to support the new system.

...


Full article at
<http://greaterolneynews.com/news/elrich-frustrated-process-selecting-proposed-site-tower/>


Cheers,
Dan