When a site developer like Crown Castle submits a cell tower application to the Village, they must provide hard data showing exactly where significant gaps in service occur, and explain how their proposed installation will remedy them.

If our new Village code does not specifically require drive test data from a site developer, we cannot ask for this information.  Without this, we will likely be presented with computer-generated propagation maps which are typically submitted by site developers as evidence.  Unfortunately, they are not accurate predictors of coverage.  Propagation maps are frequently manipulated by telecom companies in an attempt to justify the need for a cell tower. In other words, this technique is often used to make a business case, not to address actual gaps in coverage.

Andrew Campanelli, the attorney engaged to draft a new code for Upper Brookville, provided more specifics about propagation maps and why they are not an accurate way to assess needs.
 
“…in August 2020, driven by a concern that propagation maps created and submitted to the FCC by wireless carriers were inaccurate, the FCC caused its staff to perform actual drive tests, wherein the FCC staff performed 24,649 tests, driving nearly ten thousand (10,000) miles through nine (9) states, with an additional 5,916 stationary tests conducted at 42 locations situated in nine (9) states.  At the conclusion of such testing, the FCC Staff determined that the accuracy of the propagation maps submitted to the FCC by the wireless carriers had ranged from as little as 16.2% accuracy to a minimum of 64.3% accuracy”.
 
        ~ Draft Code for the Village of Upper Brookville, p. 23.
 
During a drive test, a consultant gathers data with the specifics of how strong, weak, or non-existent cell coverage actually is throughout the Village.  Cell phones serviced by different carriers are individually attached to recorders.  Repeated calls are made while driving up and down every street.  Signal strengths are recorded in the precise locations where they occur.  The existence, exact location, and boundaries of any gaps in service are then determined.  Drive testing is the only reliable way for mobile network operators to collect signal strength data.

Without this data, we will have no way of knowing whether a proposed cell tower will remedy gaps in the Village’s cellular service. We won’t know if the proposed location for the cell tower is the best possible placement.  Nor will we know if a cell tower provides so little coverage that more towers will be needed down the road.  And, we won’t know if a tower is generating more radio frequencies than necessary to cover our needs.

Drive test data is a key factor in assessing the merits of a cell tower application.  Our new Village Code must require maximum, detailed evidence from a telecom company regarding an all-important drive test analysis.