Southold’s long-running push to improve spotty cell service crawled forward Tuesday as officials discussed several potential wireless projects across town.

Town officials outlined possible tower projects in Mattituck, Cutchogue, Southold and Greenport, along with small-cell installations in several areas where coverage is weak.

No formal applications have been filed yet, Planning Director Heather Lanza said, though some projects have entered preliminary discussions.

“It’s pretty exciting because every part of town is going to get some kind of upgrade in the near future,” Ms. Lanza at Tuesday’s work session. “Not sure how long it’ll take, but we have them in the works.”

Cutchogue Fire District, Southold Fire District, northern Mattituck and the Lutheran Church in Greenport are among the locations where new towers have been proposed.

“Cutchogue Fire District will probably have the biggest cell tower in the town,” Ms. Lanza said. “We’ve had the pre-submission meeting and they’re working on what needs to get done.”

The town is also looking at changes to existing towers, including raising the height of the tower at the animal shelter to improve service.

She said she plans to meet with the company to learn what would be required to raise the tower and whether there would be any cost to the town.

Officials have also been working with Elite Towers, which Ms. Lanza said is familiar with the town’s wireless code.

“There’s a tower here on Horton’s Lane at the storage center, which is also in the plan to raise that, and getting all the carriers on it,” Ms. Lanza said. “I’m hoping we can start a dialogue with that landowner.”

Verizon has separately proposed small-cell installations throughout Southold, using wireless equipment attached to existing or replacement utility poles.

The town attorney is working with Verizon on a license agreement that would allow the company to use town rights-of-way for the installations, according to Ms. Lanza.

“They have a proposal to cover the Hog’s Neck/Bayview area, Kenny’s Beach, McCabe’s Beach, Hortons Point Lighthouse, Mount Beulah and over in Peconic-Goldsmith inlet area with small cells,” she said.

The town’s push to improve coverage comes after years of complaints about dead zones across the North Fork. A townwide survey conducted last summer found that nearly half of 773 respondents reported receiving only one bar of service at home.

Southold adopted its updated wireless code June 16, establishing standards for the placement and construction of wireless facilities and identifying town-owned property as a preferred location for new towers.

The broader wireless plan predates the updated code and has guided the town’s effort to identify gaps in coverage and potential locations for new infrastructure.

The debate over where to put new wireless infrastructure in Southold dates to 2014. The town considered a cell tower behind Town Hall, but the proposal was rejected following public opposition, including concerns related to the historic district, according to previous Suffolk Times reporting.

As the proposed projects move forward, some will require public hearings, while others can be approved administratively if they meet the town’s wireless code and plan.

“That was a lot of good work,” said Supervisor Al Krupski.

The post Southold weighs new cell towers, small-cell projects to improve spotty service appeared first on The Suffolk Times.

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