Verizon Wireless is looking to place a cell tower in the 132-acre Seymour Lake Township Park, but it’s by no means a done deal.

The process to potentially obtain approval from Oxford Township has only just begun.

Last week, the township board took the first step by voting 6-0 to forward the cell tower proposal to the planning commission “to continue the review process.”

“This is just at the beginning stage,” said township Supervisor Bill Dunn. “We just send it on its way. It’s still got to go to the planning commission, then I’m sure it’s probably going to have to go to the ZBA (Zoning Board of Appeals). So, there’s going to be plenty of opportunity for public comment.”

The proposed cell tower would be located on a 2,475 square-foot space, for which, according to a proposed license agreement, the township would receive a fee of $15,600 annually for the initial term of five years.

“They’ve already done some preliminary site work out there as far as where this tower would be located,” said Ron Davis, director of the township parks and recreation department. “It would be located due west of the tennis courts, outside the outfield fence. So, it would be in the northwest corner of the park.”

Revenue from the license agreement would go toward the parks and recreation budget, not the township’s general fund.

At its Aug. 9 meeting, the parks and recreation commission voted 3-0 “to agree that the township board proceed through the planning commission for any cell tower arrangement as they see necessary with the stipulation that any fees received would come back to the parks and recreation commission.”

According to the proposed language, the license agreement would “automatically be extended” for four additional five-year terms unless Verizon is in default or terminates the agreement. The annual license fee is proposed to increase by 5 percent per five-year term.

Township Planner Brian Oppmann, who works for the Ann Arbor-based Carlisle/Wortman Associates, said in addition to site plan approval, placing a cell tower in the park would require special land use approval from the planning commission. Special land use requests require a public hearing and notification of property owners within 300 feet of the affected parcel.

Davis told the board he’s been working on getting a cell tower in Seymour Lake Park for a number of years now. Interest has been expressed by various wireless carriers over the years, but nothing’s ever come to fruition.

Among those carriers were Nextel Communications, which looked to construct a 150-foot tower in 2001, and T-Mobile, which was interested in erecting a 180-foot tower in 2008.

With regard to the Nextel proposal, a public hearing was held in October 2001 before the planning commission and strong opposition was expressed by neighboring residents.

According to Davis, AT&T, Verizon Wireless and Sprint have also previously considered putting a tower in the park.

Davis said he, township Supervisor Bill Dunn and township attorney Gary Rentrop have been negotiating with Verizon Wireless representatives in this latest attempt.

“I think we’ve probably been working on it (for) three or four months,” he said.

Dunn asked Fire Chief Pete Scholz if there’s “a hole” around the park when it comes to wireless service

“I know anytime I hit that area out there, I lose cell phone coverage,” he said. “Is that a problem if I have a heart attack?”

“Absolutely,” Scholz replied. “That area’s been like that for as long as I can remember since we’ve had cell phones. You get out west of town, get out past Tan Lake, (past) Sanders Road, then it starts fading in and out. You get all the way out towards Baldwin Road, you drop signals all the time. Sometimes there is no coverage at all. There’s no bars on your phone.”

Scholz indicated this lack of cell coverage concerns him, especially when there are large events at the park that draw thousands of visitors such as the Seymour Celebration or athletic tournaments.

“The chances of something happening out there are really great at that time,” he said. “With thousands of people out there in the park, somebody trying to call for an emergency like (a heart attack), stands a chance of (having their call) not getting picked up at all because there is no signal out there.”

Scholz noted during large events, people are “all scrambling for what little signal strength” they can find at times and this creates the potential for them to block each other’s calls. “Anything we can do out in that area (to expand wireless coverage) would be huge to help the entire community,” he said.

Davis agreed that coverage in that area is abysmal. “It is a deadzone out there, I can tell you, outside the park as well as north of the park on Baldwin Road,” he said.

Putting a cell tower in a park isn’t unheard of around here. In 2012, Verizon Wireless erected a 190-foot tower in Addison Township’s Watershed Preserve Park. Revenue generated by the lease is put toward the development and maintenance of Addison’s park system. This year, it’s expected to generate $18,764 for the township.