Cell service at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium about to get better
Cellphone service at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium is about to get better.
The Hoover City Council on Monday night approved a new agreement for New Cingular Wireless PCS, an affiliate of AT&T, to install additional antennas and equipment to strengthen cell service capacity.
The new equipment will allow up to 25,000 simultaneous connections inside the Hoover Met, which is more than double the seating capacity of the stadium, said Jason Cope, director of technology for the city of Hoover.
AT&T for the past two years has brought in portable equipment to strengthen capacity during the SEC Baseball Tournament but now will be adding permanent technology in time for the World Games softball that will be at the Hoover Met in July 2022, Cope said.
The technology will remain in place after the World Games are over and be available for future SEC baseball tournaments and other events at the Met.
AT&T will have tremendous coverage at the Met, but AT&T customers may not be the only ones to benefit, Cope said. The company will be able to lease out space on its system at the Met to other cell service providers if they choose to do so, he said.
AT&T’s new system at the Met will be connected via fiber, which will give stronger coverage than what is allowed via cell phone towers, Cope said.
Also, Verizon has plans to boost its small cell service in areas at the Hoover Metropolitan Complex, including new small cell towers at the Hoover RV Park and Hoover Metropolitan Complex softball/baseball fields, Cope said. That should help with Verizon’s coverage at the Hoover Met Stadium as well, he said.
In other business Monday night, the Hoover City Council:
- Gave approval for the Alabama Department of Transportation to install new cable barriers along the median of Interstate 459 in the portion of the interstate in Hoover to the south of Exit 10. ALDOT plans to add the cable barriers along about 9.5 miles of I-459 from Interstate 20/59 to a point about half a mile south of John Hawkins Parkway, City Engineer Chris Reeves said. Cable barriers already were added between the point just south of John Hawkins Parkway and U.S. 280, though some of them have been knocked down already.
- Approved alcohol licenses for Bumpers Billiards at 2132 Lorna Ridge Lane, RYU Japanese Steakhouse and Sushi Bar at 2760 John Hawkins Parkway in the Colonial Promenade Hoover shopping center and the new location of Piggy Wiggly at 2148 Tyler Road in the Bluff Park Village shopping center.
- Agreed to advance Hoover Police Department Executive Officer Kenny Fountain $4,000 to cover expenses for his 12-week stay at the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia.
- Subtracted about $53,000 from the cost of a project to install a new sewer main line in Inverness, putting the new contract amount with Russo Corp. at $1,294,353.
- Reappointed T.J. Dolan, Curtis Jackson and Kyle Puchta to three-year terms on the Hoover Board of Zoning Adjustment, ending May 31, 2024.
- Reappointed Jeffrey Pomeroy to the Hoover Industrial Development Board for a six-year term ending Sept. 10, 2027.
- Declared properties at 2049 Sweetgum Drive, 204 Redwood Lane, 1711 Kestwick Circle and 2016 Shannon Road to be public nuisances due to high weeds and/or grass.
- Set a public hearing for Oct. 18 to consider whether to have the grass and/or weeds cut at 2344 Mountain Oaks Lane and 3555 Atdoann Drive and liens put against the properties to recover the costs.
- Set a public hearing for Oct. 18 to consider whether to rezone property at 581 Park Avenue in Bluff Park from an R-1 residential zone to a legacy single-family residential district to allow for a change in setbacks that will allow the homeowner to add onto the home and put a new garage that is in line with other nearby houses.