Franklin Park Council will decide next week if it will allow a private company to move forward with plans to build a cell phone tower in Linbrook Park.

Borough Manager Ambrose Rocca said TriStar Investors, a national company that specializes in cell phone tower ground leases, would like to build a 190-foot tower on land near the middle of the borough-owned park.

There are no homes nearby, he added.

The deal with TriStar, if approved, would do two important things for the borough, Mr. Rocca said.

First, it will eliminate a "dead zone" that exists in the area near the park. People using cell phones there often lose connections. But more troubling, he said, is the loss of communication capabilities for the borough's emergency service providers.

If the tower goes up, the borough will attach several antennas to it to improve signals for emergency providers.

The second benefit is financial. Under the plan the borough is considering, the company would pay Franklin Park $100,000 for the first five-year lease. Subsequent five-year leases would contain incremental increases in the fee, Mr. Rocca said.

The company would have two years to build the tower, paying the borough $5,000 for each of those years, he added.

The only other cell tower in Franklin Park is near Nicholson Road and Interstate 79.

Council will consider the initial lease proposal at its meeting on Wednesday.