While the SAR isn’t always distributed to the entire wireless deployment project team for site selection, after site selection is made, the SCIP or a pertinent portion of it is distributed to the entire project team. Following is a general description of the role of each member of the project team.
This entire book is devoted to the business of developing wireless infrastructure from the perspective of a site acquisition consultant. Expectations and responsibilities of the site acquisition consultant were discussed in Module 2 The Role of Site Acquisition. Milestones for wireless facility development projects in the site acquisition and local permitting stages were explained in Module 3 Site Acquisition Contracting.
A site acquisition consultant’s work starts with evaluating search area assignments designed by RF engineers, as discussed in Module 6 Search Area Design; Module 7 Search Area Assignment; and Module 8 Search Area Mapping. Site acquisition consultants perform due diligence to determine the most zone-able sites, the most constructible locations, and the most leasable properties to install wireless facilities, as discussed in Module 9 Zone-ability; Module 10 Constructability; and Module 11 Lease-ability. The site acquisition consultant controls all communications and negotiations with prospective property owners in each search area, as discussed in Module 12 Property Owner Communications.
The site acquisition consultant drafts the search area report to communicate to the project team the best available candidate locations …
The client point of contact is usually a real estate or site acquisition specialist, analyst, manager, or director. This person typically has the responsibility of overseeing the operating components of the site selection and development project for the client. The client’s real estate point of contact, as a superior, directs the site acquisition consultant, as a subordinate, in executing the real estate site acquisition and local permitting tasks.
The workload of the client’s point of contact, the demonstrated competence of the site acquisition consultant, and the relationship between the two determine which responsibilities the client’s point of contact might delegate to a site acquisition consultant from project to project.
The RF engineer is tasked with designing local wireless systems, made up of individual wireless infrastructure sites. An RF engineer initiates each search area assignment. In many projects, the site selection is referred to as the RF site selection or the RF approval of the site. These references to RF imply that the site selection or approval is based on radio frequency criteria, which are applied by an RF engineer.
As such, in many situations, the RF engineer’s opinion about where a new site should be located will overrule the first desires of the construction manager or operations personnel. An RF engineer’s site preference may appear idealistic; however, if a site doesn’t satisfy the RF objectives, spending the time and money to build the site is wasteful and unproductive.
Construction managers are the most concerned with the cost and difficulty of building proposed sites. In their jobs, construction managers work with local utilities, the project A&E firm, and general (construction) contractors regarding the application of costing methods to the estimation of overall site construction costs. Tough decisions may arise in confrontations between construction managers and RF engineers. This is the case in circumstances where the location most desired by RF engineering is much more expensive to build than other locations in seemingly close proximity. This is not a confrontation that it is wise for the site acquisition consultant to get in the middle of, except to supply data as requested to resolve the conflict. The client’s point of contact will see that the proper site selection decision is made.
Operations personnel are largely responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of wireless facilities once they are placed into service, online, or operational. A representative from operations may be consulted during site selection to ensure that the needs of operations personnel are met in the early stages of the project. An operations manager or field technician who represents the operations personnel may be considered part of the project team.
The A&E firm is tasked with site design. It reports to the site developer/client point of contact, the construction manager, and RF engineering. Since the construction manager implements drawings (plans) developed by the A&E firm, the construction manager has direct input into how the plans are crafted. For RF engineering, the plans include radio transmission details for each site, such as the location of the waveguide, the configuration of antennas, and issues related to how the waveguide connects the radio equipment and antenna system configuration.
The A&E firm hires the land surveyor to conduct the land survey. The A&E firm uses the land survey to design the configuration of a proposed new site, including all equipment, as discussed in Module 5 Wireless Facility Components.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has promulgated regulations to implement the National Environmental Protection Act of 1969 (NEPA), the Endangered Species Act (ESA), and Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) with respect to the development of communications towers and collocations on existing structures.1 Due to its lead agency role in relation to licensing frequency spectrum and antenna structure registration, the FCC is obligated to enforce these and other federal environmental laws relevant to wireless facilities. The FCC conducts periodic environmental training workshops for environmental consultants with the objective of providing insight into the FCC’s regulatory compliance processes and procedures.2
The project team environmental consultant (EC) is responsible for researching and evaluating the selected site with respect to FCC environmental compliance guidelines. Compliance with FCC regulations is a prerequisite for the issuance of authorization from the FCC to proceed with installing a new communications tower or wireless facility. A construction permit issued by the FCC is not the same as a building permit issued by a local jurisdiction. Both are necessary for wireless facility implementation.
The client’s legal counsel serves as the ultimate resource for the wireless facility developer with respect to contract issues, including the wording of language in the space rights agreement that is subject to negotiation with the property owner, and, if necessary, direct contact with the property owner’s attorney. The project attorney may be in-house or outside counsel. Outside counsel may have crafted the standard space rights agreements of the site developer or may merely consult with in-house attorneys about the organization’s policies and preferences.
Title companies issue title insurance to insure a buyer or prospective leasehold interest tenant against defects in the legal ownership of real property. Wireless infrastructure developers want to protect themselves against defects in title, and therefore use title industry standards to research and review the quality of the chain of the title and existing encumbrances for each proposed investment location. A chain of title demonstrates ownership rights have been granted to a property owner or tenant from the previous or current owner, respectively. Chain of the title might refer to rights granted to a management company through management or another individual by power of attorney.
The foundation of title work is due diligence research conducted by a title company or abstractor detailing title transactions in the history of the property.
The site acquisition consultant now has the input necessary for members of the project team to weigh in and make a site selection decision. This is a milestone in the project. The project now changes from a site search and selection effort to a site development endeavor.
The site acquisition consultant is no less involved in the site development process, but the other members of the project team now engage. Before site development commences, the acquisition consultant needs to set the table for project team activity. In Module 15 Site Candidate Information Package (SCIP) I’ll discuss the first step in providing the team members with the detailed intelligence they need to start performing due diligence activities relevant to their work. Module 16 Project Initiation covers the second step to energize participation from the project team in the site development project: site visitation.
© 2025 · John M. Rowe/Communications Real Estate, Inc./Telecom Birddogs, LLC