The first legal conference between the Village of Flower Hill and ExteNet Systems, which came after ExeNet Systems rejected applications for 18 cell nodes in the area, has been rescheduled to Jan. 8, according to village attorney Jeffrey Blinkoff.
Blinkoff, who practices at Roslyn’s Leventhal, Mullaney and Blinkoff LLP, said at the Board of Trustees meeting on Monday, Dec. 2 that a conference originally scheduled for Dec. 17 would instead take place on Jan. 8, according to an email from attorney Edward Ross, who was not present at the meeting and is representing the village in the matter.
“The next and first has been moved to January 8 of 2020, so as soon as I have more information on that I will share it with the board,” Blinkoff said.
Verizon Wireless had contracted ExteNet four years ago to install small cell devices in a number of Long Island communities to improve local 4G and later 5G networks.
In Flower Hill, ExteNet had originally applied with the village in 2017, before the board implemented a yearlong moratorium on cell nodes to last from August 2017 to August 2018.
“The moratorium enacted by the Board, by its terms, expired August 1, 2018,” materials from ExteNet’s lawsuit state. “However, in practice, a de facto moratorium continued to be in effect post-August 1, 2018.”
After its application for 18 cell nodes was rejected by Flower Hill’s Board of Trustees in September, ExteNet sued the village, contending that their determination that ExteNet had provided the board with a special permit application with conflicting plans and options instead of “specific alternate plans” is a “charade.”
A call for comment to ExteNet’s legal department was not immediately returned.
The Village of Plandome is the latest municipality to join Flower Hill and Lake Success in rejecting ExteNet applications, with 8 of 10 proposed cell nodes unanimously denied by trustees at a meeting on Nov. 18. The remaining two cell nodes will be voted upon in January.
