Representatives from ExteNet Systems discussed an updated proposal to install cell nodes in Kings Point on Thursday night, in hopes of boosting cellphone coverage and data capacity.
ExteNet, a company that designs, builds, owns and manages distributed networks for cell phone companies, first pitched installing 31 small cell nodes in Kings Point in January last year.
Richard Lambert, the regional director of external relations for ExteNet’s eastern region, said the new proposal expands the geographic scope to drape the northeastern portion of Kings Point but retains the same number of nodes.
“We still have 31 sites, even though we expanded the contour,” Lambert told trustees. “We did not add additional nodes.”
Most of the nodes would be installed on existing telephone poles, Lambert said. ExteNet’s current proposal calls for adding four poles and an ornamental fifth pole, which Lambert noted the company is flexible with the design.
The four locations would be at the corner of Gatsby Lane and Kings Point Road, on Split Rock Drive north of Farmers Road, on the corner of Pinetree Drive and Split Rock Drive, and on East Shore Road by Kennilworth Terrace.
Lambert and village officials also discussed the possibility of putting up an ornamental pole at or near the turnaround of Blue Sea Lane.
Stephen Limmer, the village attorney, said the project would require a special use permit under their code.
Limmer also said that, because of the height of the poles and their purpose, village code calls for $62,000 per year worth of fees – or $2,000 per pole.
Lambert referenced a Federal Communications Commission order, set to go into effect in mid-January.
According to a memo from ExteNet sent to municipalities, the order bars governments from barring the installation of telecommunications equipment and says that fees must be a “reasonable approximation of the state or local government’s costs.”
Currently, according to the memo, the FCC presumes that $500 for non-recurring fees, an additional $100 for each small wireless facility beyond five, or $1,000 for non-recurring fees for a new poll aiming to support one or more facilities would be reasonable.
The order also sets an annual $270 per small wireless facility fee limit for right-of-way access and attachment to government-owned structure, the memo says.
ExteNet’s return to Kings Point comes as other municipalities like Lake Success and Great Neck Plaza wrestle with proposals aiming to install cell nodes in their villages.
Lake Success residents have blasted a proposal from ExteNet to install more than a dozen cell nodes throughout the village. The discussion is slated to continue into 2019.
North Shore villages like Munsey Park, Williston Park, Flower Hill, Plandome and Plandome Manor have also heard proposals from ExteNet to install cell nodes.
Great Neck Plaza, meanwhile, is trying to craft new telecommunications regulations to control what they can as the FCC’s new rules go into effect. The village has not yet received applications for cell node installation.
