The president of the Montgomery County Council canceled a vote Tuesday on how close to allow new antennas and other “small-cell” equipment to be installed near homes after he said council members couldn’t reach an agreement.

The legislation had drawn intense interest over two years, both from residents who said they want faster Internet speeds and others concerned about the potential impacts to their health and property values.

Montgomery Council President Hans Riemer (D-At Large) and Montgomery Executive Isiah Leggett (D) said they had tried to balance the needs of the wireless industry to expand broadband capacity with residents' concerns that the equipment and poles would be ugly or too close to homes. However, they said, council members couldn’t decide whether to allow the poles to be 30 or 60 feet from homes and disagreed about which kinds of cell equipment applications should be granted administratively and which should require a public review process.

“We need to support the future of wireless while balancing the impact it will have on our communities,” Riemer said. He later added, “Some want to make it as hard as possible to build wireless networks.”