Merger affects lease deal with Falls

The wireless company needs more time to plan its network.
By ERIC GROSSO
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
NEWTON FALLS -- The recent merger between Cingular Wireless and AT & amp;T will change a recently negotiated lease agreement with the village and may take away revenues that come with the agreement.
Village council passed an ordinance Monday, stating it would enter a lease agreement with Cingular Wireless, which needed the lease to get building and zoning permits from the village and Trumbull County, according to Zerxis Satarawala, a Cingular Wireless representative.
Because of the recent merger between Cingular Wireless and AT & amp;T, the company needs more time to plan its network. The original plans called for Cingular Wireless to build a telecommunications facility on the property shared with the waste treatment plant. The lease gives the company a 75-square-foot space to use.
Cingular Wireless had planned on constructing a 190-foot tower in that space, but that project is now delayed because of the merger.
"I don't think Cingular would have me out here if they didn't intend on building. But then again, there is the potential that we don't need the tower," said Satarawala.
Cingular Wireless will attempt to obtain zoning permits from the planning and zoning commission at its next meeting May 12.
The lease calls for the village to receive $14,400 from Cingular Wireless during the first year, with a 3 percent increase of that amount annually, negotiated by village Manager David Watson.
A temporary lease calls for Cingular Wireless to pay $1,000 per month to hold the land until it decides whether to build.