Draper council approves 40-year cell tower lease in 5-0 vote

DRAPER — The City Council approved Resolution 26-49 on Tuesday, Oct. 20, amending and extending the city's cell site lease with APC Towers, LLC at 385 E. Steep Mountain Drive, and raising the rent to $2,500 a month once the first extension term begins 1. The item sat on the consent agenda as 5.b and the consent agenda passed 5-0 2. The Draper Herald reported it passed with no discussion and that no residents spoke during the public comment period 3.

The amendment adds 40 years to a lease that dates to Oct. 1, 2015, for land and easements used to run "a communications facility" on the site 1. It also adds a 30-day right of first refusal, exercisable if the city receives a bona fide offer on the lease 1. At $2,500 a month the rent comes to $30,000 a year. The agenda packet does not state the rent the city collects now 1.

What the council approved is not yet a signed lease. The document attached to the resolution is written as an offer: it states that Section 1 "represents an expression of our mutual intent to agree only," that "no party shall in any way be bound until a lease amendment is executed," and that consummation is conditioned on the city being satisfied with a due diligence review 1. A separate clause says the transaction "will be embodied in a subsequent lease amendment containing all the terms and conditions thereof" 1. The same document carries APC Towers' agreement to indemnify and defend the city against claims arising from the company's acts or omissions on the site 1.

The term itself is described two ways in adjacent clauses of the same paragraph: 40 years as "five (5) eight (8) – year Extension Terms," and the rent trigger as taking effect "upon the commencement of the first of the eight 5-year additional Extension Terms" 1. Both readings total 40 years; the packet does not reconcile the wording 1.

Spencer DuShane was listed as the staff contact on the agenda item 1. The resolution states it takes effect immediately upon passage and carries Mayor Troy K. Walker's signature block and a vote table listing five council members and the mayor that the pre-meeting packet left blank 1. The city's meeting recap records the consent agenda, including the resolution, as approved 5-0, and records adjournment at 7:15 p.m. 2.

Earlier in the evening the council issued a proclamation for Extra Mile Day and crossing guard appreciation 2. The Herald reported that Mayor Walker and the council honored 41 school crossing guards and declared Nov. 1, 2026, Extra Mile Day 3. The closed meeting noted on the agenda as possible was not held, according to the recap, and the study session listed one discussion topic, fleet policy 2.

The Herald, citing OpenUtah's meeting summary, reported that the study session also covered a traffic signal at 138th and 300 East — to be built instead of a roundabout, at an estimated saving of $1.5 million to $2 million after a settled lawsuit — and strategies for selling the remaining workforce housing units built by Ivory Homes, including broader eligibility for part-time city employees, school district staff and National Guard members 3. The city's own recap lists only fleet policy 2.

The resolution amends an agreement already in place for the site rather than approving a new one 1. A definitive amendment must be executed before any of the new terms bind either party, and the document sets no date for that beyond "as soon as all conditions in the definitive agreement are fulfilled" 1.