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options for tower location...need suggestions

J

joebtsflk1

Have been working with a broadcaster exploring new tower site options. Problem is, the best area for siting is on top of expensive prime farm ground, which is running about $10000/acre. (how these corn farmers think land prices like this will cash flow I haven't a clue, but not my problem)

I wonder if there are arrangements where one could purchase an acre for the tower site and building plus 3 10'x400' strips for the guy wire runs. The guy points could be fenced off and the farmer could farm around them. I'm concerned that county zoning requirements could prevent creating such parcel. We're looking at about a 500' tower. to buy the entire plot needed would be over $100,000 based on a ten acre site

I'm thinking that if such a parcel could be created, it might cost $25000 or more to persuade a landowner to carve out a parcel like this. Alternatively, would it become more cost-effective to build a 500' self-supporter on a 100' x 100' plot?
 
If this one piece of farmland is the only really attractive site, do your homework very carefully before to make a proposal to the owner that really turns him off! (or "her". I came across a story recently about what a large percentage of good farmland in owned by women today.)

Years ago when I still had farm-boy blood flowing in my veins, Midwestern farms tended to be 12 to 16 hundred acres. I get the idea a lot of farmers today are tilling 4,000 acres. Do the math. You may be negotiating with someone who has HOW MUCH money tied up? (counting the zeros makes my head hurt. ;D )

So you buy one single acre. When it comes times to paint the tower or do other maintenance in the future, where are the contractors going to park their trucks, where are they going to assemble the replacement antenna they need to hoist up there to replace the lightning damage?

If you are in the Midwestern cornbelt area, those folks are buying golf courses and turning them back into farmland. The cash-flow on farmland in that area is apparently working better than cash flow for some broadcasters. One Iowa farm recently sold for $20,000 per acre.

With the size of today's farming equipment (and the amount of horsepower they have on wheels) do you really want to take a chance on having guy-wires in the middle of someone's cornfield that they own? If you own the land and you are renting it to the farmer, you have some ability to write rules and policy. Purchasing the added acres could prevent someone from toppling your tower some day.

If you are in some other part of the country, the average cost per acre may be lower, but the land you want may be prime real-estate for future development. If the farmer sells you one acre for your tower, the farmer just shot a hole in his/her own foot. The surrounding acres will no longer sell at the premium price per acre for a shopping center or condo project once the prime acre is sold for a tower.

The growth of the cell phone industry over the last 15 years turned loose a bunch of land buyers who have really changed land owners attitudes about selling for towers.
 
joebtsflk1 said:
I wonder if there are arrangements where one could purchase an acre for the tower site and building plus 3 10'x400' strips for the guy wire runs.
Click to expand...

Don't forget the ground system...
 
that's right, FM. Sounds like self-supporter may be best choice to avoid complications, which I've been assuming. Calls will be going out on Monday to get some ballpark figures...meanwhile would it be safe to assume the structure cost of a self-supporter to be about double that of a guyed tower of similar height?
 
joebtsflk1 said:
that's right, FM. Sounds like self-supporter may be best choice to avoid complications, which I've been assuming. Calls will be going out on Monday to get some ballpark figures...meanwhile would it be safe to assume the structure cost of a self-supporter to be about double that of a guyed tower of similar height?
Click to expand...
While having not gotten a quote on any tower recently, I do work with owners who make decisions on these matters and in areas where there is limited space, they invariably are opting to build guyed towers with closer in guy anchors (sometimes less than 50% of tower height) rather than self supporting towers. The "short guyed" towers are more expensive as they need to be stronger to support the almost straight down tension that the guy wires produce--but they should still be less costly that a self supporter. Please pass along the results of your estimates for a 500' Self Supporter vs a regular guyed tower vs a short guyed tower. The short guyed tower can be built with different guy anchor distances. Considering that you don't know how much land you can get access to, I would ask them what the shortest spacing they can build is, get it quoted and then get a couple more spacings quoted between the low number and the standard 70-80% spacing. If land is in limited (but not extremely limited) supply, I wouldn't be surprised to see the short guyed tower become the best compromise.
 
A long shot suggestion, but one that may work, is to investigate to see if there are any old houses, or barn complexes in your open area.

My thought: Often in "corn and beans country" you will see an old farm house, and, a little ways down the road, the modern ranch type house the farmer lives in. They've kept the old house for sentimental reasons (grandpa's old house, etc.) but it is either not used or rented out, probably because it is difficult to heat, run down,etc..
Often the barns, storage buildings are around this house, while they live a ways down the road.

Since this acreage is not actively farmed, perhaps you can cut a deal to build the tower around this area. Especially if the house is rented out--you may end up paying the same rent but farmer and you are both happy with the deal because he no longer has landlord-tenant hassles with a family of 6 on welfare.
 
Guyed vs self - supporters - Figure the guyed tower cost increases as the square of the height, while the self supporter increases as the cube of the height. There's a near thousand footer here which is guyed around 19% of the height, and it has stood for ~~ 30 years so far.
You may run into zoning problems though - many political subdivisions want clear space aropund the site equalling the height of the tower. Which is a ration, but that's often the requirement.
 
joebtsflk1 said:
that's right, FM. Sounds like self-supporter may be best choice to avoid complications, which I've been assuming. Calls will be going out on Monday to get some ballpark figures...meanwhile would it be safe to assume the structure cost of a self-supporter to be about double that of a guyed tower of similar height?
Click to expand...

Last tall S/S I had quoted was for a 600' stick -- it was $679K delivered, installed with lighting and foundation.
 
I am currently building a 349' tower in east central Illinois on prime farmland. We are leasing 5 acres, but the farmer is allowed to farm around the tower. buildings, and the guy anchors. The biggest problem that we had wasn't the negotiations with the farmer, it was the approval process with the county. Largely because we built on best prime farm land.
 
That can be scary, just make sure they're not jamming on a ipod while working near your site.. Can wreck havoc on guys wires.Down in Louisiana we had an even crazier situation, crop dusters. Same tower got clipped 2x within 1 year. Pilots went to crop duster heaven.
 
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