Chapel cell tower lease will expire

The Longboat Island Chapel membership voted 52-16 on Sunday in favor of letting a cellular tower lease on its property expire on July 26. The vote means no application for a cellular tower will be submitted to Town Hall anytime soon.

The congregation held a special members only meeting Sunday, April 14 to vote on whether to approve an extension of a three-year lease agreement for a cell tower to be built on the church property or to let the lease expire.

In a press release issued Monday, the chapel membership said “the majority vote by members was to let the lease expire.”

Chapel Board of Trustees President Larry Steagall called the meeting “calm and collected.”

“It’s the first time the membership had a vote and they made their voices heard,” Steagall said.

Jim Eatrides, owner of Alpha Omega Communications LLC and Kevin Barile, a project partner with Ridan Industries LLC, have been working on placing a tower on the north end of the Key for more than four years. They called the membership vote “extremely disappointing.”

Eatrides and Barile, which had the lease approved by a previous chapel board three years ago, said that since the board was modified, they had a lack of communication from board members regarding their lease.

For more information, pick up a copy of Thursday’s April 18 Longboat Observer.

Contact Kurt Schultheis at [email protected].