ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – Concern is mounting among residents of the RiverTown Vista subdivision after learning of plans to build a 160-foot cell phone tower just a few hundred feet from their homes and a nearby school.
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Several homeowners say they were unaware of the proposal when they purchased their properties, saying they feel blindsided by the sudden construction project.
Jonathan Hester, who recently moved to RiverTown from California, described his family’s shock upon discovering the project.
“So we just moved from across the country and found out after closing that they’re building a cellphone tower right at the end of our street,” Hester said.
He added that he and his neighbors, most of whom are new to Florida, had no idea the tower was planned for their community.
“We feel like we’ve been misled. We’ve only closed three weeks ago, and now suddenly there’s construction going up, and we’ve reached out to so many people and no one has helped us with this,” Hester said.
According to St. Johns County officials, the right to build cell towers in RiverTown neighborhoods has existed since the early 2000s under the development’s original zoning plan.
The company behind the current project, Nextower Development Group II, first filed its application in April 2024. As part of the approval process, a third-party consultant confirmed there were no existing towers nearby that could serve the area instead.
The county also confirmed that the new tower meets the required 250-foot setback from homes.
The tower is being developed at a site off Rivertown Main Street. On May 6, 2025, the county approved an access agreement for Nextower, in conjunction with neighborhood developer Mattamy Homes.
Jacob Greenberg, another new resident who moved from New Jersey, said he would have reconsidered his purchase had he known about the tower.
“Had I known the truth about what Mattamy was going to do here, I wouldn’t have uprooted my girlfriend and myself from New Jersey and purchased a house all the way in Florida in Rivertown,” Greenberg said.
Greenberg shared a text message exchange with a sales representative in which he questioned the tower’s location. Another neighbor provided a map, apparently from Mattamy Homes, that showed no tower on the lot where construction is now underway.
“This is a huge concern of mine, mostly health-related. I made this concern very clear to Mattamy in September when we first started our negotiations,” Greenberg said.
In an email to a concerned resident, a county official wrote, “It is unclear why Mattamy Homes did not make you aware of the planned tower, as I have contacted them several times with opposition emails from the neighborhood.”
County planning officials also noted that under county and federal rules, their ability to deny a tower request is limited.
News4JAX reached out to both Mattamy Homes and Nextower Development Group for comment but has not yet received a response.
According to the National Association of Realtors, cellphone towers can decrease home values, especially when placed close to residential properties.
As for health concerns, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) states there is no evidence that cell towers pose a health risk to nearby residents.
