SpaceX Starlink antenna yard clears Sherman zoning step at Midway Mall

By GvilleTX Newsroom

Sherman's Planning and Zoning Commission signed off Aug. 18 on a SpaceX plan to put 40 satellite earth-station antennas in the parking lot at Midway Mall, city records show, adding a piece of Starlink's ground network to the Texoma corridor next door to Cooke County. Commissioners took it without separate debate, in one motion that carried consent agenda items 6 through 11, according to the meeting agenda and the city's video of the meeting.

The site is 4800 Texoma Parkway, a 42.8-acre tract the agenda lists as zoned C-2 general commercial. Drawings on file with the city put the antennas, each 1.99 meters across, inside a proposed compound of 100 by 200 feet on parking pavement that already exists.

The application was submitted on behalf of Space Exploration Technologies Corp. Its project narrative says the Sherman facility is meant to enhance broadband internet in the area for uses such as streaming and video calls. That narrative gives July 24 as the filing date and lists Oct. 19 as the projected deadline for a decision under FCC rules.

How much say the city had was shaped by federal law. FCC rule 47 CFR 25.104 preempts state and local regulation that materially limits an earth-station antenna's transmission or reception, or that imposes more than minimal cost, unless the local authority can show its rule is reasonable. For antennas of two meters or less in commercial or industrial areas, the rule presumes local regulation unreasonable and preempted, subject to rebuttal and waiver. SpaceX's filing states both of those conditions: the antennas measure under two meters, and the installation area is zoned for commercial and industrial uses.

Sherman is not the first stop for a yard this size. An FCC public notice in July granted SpaceX Services 60-day temporary authority for quad-band Starlink gateway earth stations at Roma and Fort Worth, each with 40 antennas the notice calls technically identical at 1.99 meters. Plan commission minutes from Cedar Lake, Ind., describing a comparable June request for 40 ground-mounted antennas, say the dishes there stood about eight feet tall, tied into fiber already in the ground, and were put at 30 to 45 days to build.

Census QuickFacts puts household broadband subscriptions at about 91 percent in Sherman and 90 percent in Grayson County for 2020-2024. West of the county line the share runs lower, roughly 86 percent in Cooke County and 85 percent in Gainesville.

Sherman says its Planning and Zoning Commission reviews new development plans under current city zoning law and makes recommendations to City Council on zoning and subdivision matters. The city's 2026 planning schedule lists site plans with an application date and a commission meeting date. Zoning changes and specific-use permits carry a council date as well.