A 155-Foot Cell Tower Is Headed for the Railroad Next to Canyon Falls. Council Votes Nov. 2.

What's Going Up — and Where

If you drive Canyon Falls Drive west toward Highway 377, you cross the Union Pacific railroad tracks. That strip of railroad right-of-way, mostly invisible behind the tree line, is where a 155-foot cell tower is now in the approval pipeline.

The applicant is SBA Communications Corporation, one of the country's major tower companies. Representative Kermit Farrow of Delta Oaks Group, PLLC, filed case ZPD26-0008 — formally titled "UPRR Canyon Falls Communication Tower" — asking the Town to rezone a slice of Union Pacific land near 6101 Highway 377. The land is currently zoned Agricultural. The proposal would create Planned Development District No. 213, which keeps Agricultural uses in place but adds a communication tower, along with specific exceptions and waivers to Town code.

The structure itself is a monopole: no guy wires, no anchor cables. A 150-foot pole with a 5-foot lightning rod on top, for a total height of 155 feet. The actual tower footprint sits on a 2,490-square-foot parcel within a larger 0.29-acre lease area. The compound would include a 15-by-166-foot gravel pad, a 12-foot gravel access drive inside a 30-foot corridor, and an 8-foot solid decorative wall with a 12-foot double swing gate. Town staff says the wall would be finished to look similar to walls already in the Canyon Falls area. SBA Communications has asked the Town itself to pick the tower's color to match the surroundings.

No one will work there. The facility is unmanned and would be visited periodically for maintenance and inspections.

Why Here, Why Now

The application includes Verizon coverage maps showing service levels with and without the proposed Canyon Falls site. According to those materials, the goals include better indoor and outdoor coverage, more capacity to meet engineering requirements for 911 and emergency services, reducing load on neighboring towers, more time operating on 5G instead of 4G, and improved service for North Lake, Corral City, Argyle, and surrounding commercial and residential areas.

A tower like this normally requires a Specific Use Permit in Agricultural zoning. Town staff says the Planned Development route is required here because the applicant is also asking for changes to Town code — you can't bundle those waivers into a standard SUP.

What the Applicant Wants Waived

This is the part that matters most for neighbors. Town code has three setback requirements for communication towers:

• A distance from every property line equal to 20 percent of the tower's height
• 50 feet from any existing or planned street right-of-way
• 50 feet from any property line adjacent to a residential district

SBA Communications is asking to reduce those. The staff report puts the requested setback at 4 feet from the nearest property line. The applicant's own letter of intent states the request as a 0-foot tower setback. Both documents are part of the official case file. Town Council will work from both numbers.

Beyond setbacks, the applicant wants:

• Equipment setbacks reduced to match what's shown on the revised site plan
• Landscaping requirements waived entirely, because irrigation and long-term upkeep inside railroad right-of-way would be impractical
• Tree survey, preservation, and mitigation requirements modified or excepted to the extent applicable

What's not being changed: the 8-foot masonry fence requirement, high-voltage signage, aircraft hazard rules, shared-use provisions, the obligation to remove obsolete towers within 12 months, and FCC radiation standards. Those stay.

The applicant also states the tower will meet FAA requirements and won't encroach on any airport approach path.

Where It Stands

The Town mailed notices to four property owners within 200 feet of the site. When staff wrote its report, no correspondence had come back.

On Monday, Oct. 12, 2026, Planning & Zoning Commission took up the case. Commissioner Bayuk moved to recommend approval as presented; Vice-Chair Hobbs seconded. The vote was 6-0, with ayes from Hobbs, Bayuk, Geddie, Langley, Fitzpatrick, and Furnas. No one spoke — no one in support, no one opposed, no questions from the public.

That recommendation now goes to Town Council. The public hearing is Monday, November 2, 2026, at 6 p.m. at Town Hall, 2121 Cross Timbers Road. Council makes the final call. If you want to weigh in, that's the night to show up.