HILO — High-speed 4G cellphone service should be coming to South Kona and Ka’u by the end of next year, thanks to a new cell tower that will be constructed in Hawaiian Ocean View Estates.
HILO — High-speed 4G cellphone service should be coming to South Kona and Ka’u by the end of next year, thanks to a new cell tower that will be constructed in Hawaiian Ocean View Estates.
The 150-foot tower, to be built on 2 acres at the southeast corner of Palm Parkway and Reef Circle Mauka, will contain 12 panel antennas and microwave dish antennas. It will replace an old 100-foot tower that doesn’t have the capacity for the new technology, or the ability to handle the number of wireless carriers interested in serving the area.
The facility is the only tower serving HOVE, Hawaiian Ocean View Ranchos, travelers along that area of Mamalahoa Highway and into the Kahuku Unit of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, said William Keoni Fox, of the Kaneohe-based Alii Wireless Specialists.
“Some of these areas are not getting good coverage,” Fox said.
The Windward Planning Commission on Thursday unanimously approved a use permit for the new tower.
Chairman Myles Miyasato questioned Fox about possible service disruptions during the transition and whether taking down the old tower will expose residents to hazardous materials. He was told the old tower is simply steel, with no paint or other possible hazards.
Nor will there be a disruption in service, Fox said.
“We need to construct the new tower before we take down the old one,” Fox said. “There’s going to be some overlap.”
Fox said after the meeting that he’s still working on getting building permits, so the construction is probably six months away. It will take three or four months to build the new tower, he said.
Another project managed by Alii Wireless came up before the commission, but it was withdrawn by the Planning Department without comment. A 200-foot tower and adjacent 40-foot tower at the corner of Kamaoa Road and South Point Road have existed for years without a use permit. Fox had applied for an after-the-fact permit, but the Planning Department determined that the structures were built before use permits were required.
One of the towers was constructed in 1988 and the other in 1994.
Questions remained, however as to whether the proper building permits were acquired and inspections done back when the structures were built, Planning Director Duane Kanuha said in a Nov. 23 letter to Fox.
“Please ask the Building Division to see if building permits will be needed for the towers before antenna equipment can be co-located on the towers,” Kanuha said in the letter.
Fox said he met with Public Works officials on Thursday, and they are going to research the permit and inspection issue and get back with him. He said the building permits were issued, but there are no records that the final inspections were completed.