RANSHAW - A 225-foot wireless communications tower is under construction along Route 901 across from the western entrance into Ranshaw.
The tower is owned by Verizon Wireless and was estimated in October 2011 to cost $120,000, according to documents at Coal Township Municipal Building. It's being built by Wireless Access Technologies Inc. on a plot at the Shamokin Plaza, occupied by Aaron's and Advance Auto Parts.
The self-supporting lattice tower will hold 12 antennas and potentially more antennas and a dish, according to project blueprints.
A warning light and a 8-foot lightning rod will top it, raising the height of the structure to 233 feet from base to tip.
An 11.5-by-30 foot modular equipment shelter will be on site. The 35-by-73 foot plot will be surrounded by 8-foot high fencing topped with barbed wire. White pine trees are planned to be planted on the perimeter, the blueprints show.
Zoning and permits for the structure were approved in fall 2011.