Up to 5 new cell towers possible; town land sought

The company Wireless Edge is seeking up to five locations on which to build cell phone towers to cover areas of poor service in the town.

Company President John Arthur told the Town Board on Monday that a study will be conducted to determine if there are town-owned properties that can accommodate the towers.

“We want to analyze the town properties ... and we figure that’s a process that’s going to take us a few weeks to do,” Arthur said.

“We’d want to get that down to a short list,” he said. “Let’s say there’s a dozen sites you’d like to promote. We’ll focus on those and look at the coverage, and then we’ll mesh that with private sites that we find to fill in those gaps.”

Arthur said Wireless Edge would secure leases for the properties before arranging terms for carriers to use its towers. He said cellular companies are becoming active in broadening their services in advance of 5G systems coming online.

“The timing is good because a number of things are going on,” he said. “Sprint just woke up from the dead; they’re going to build new sites. So we’re going to see Sprint leases for 10 years.”

Areas of Rhinebeck being targeted for improved coverage include the state Route 308 corridor in the northeast part of town; the area where U.S. Route 9 and state Route 9G intersect; U.S. Route 9 about halfway between the village of Rhinebeck and the Hyde Park town line; state Route 9G near Vlei Road; and along Slate Quarry Road near Eighmyville Road.

Town officials previously considered property near the former town landfill for a cell tower, but the decided against the location because it is in the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome’s flight path.

Arthur said the landfill site was reviewed again in advance of Monday’s meeting and was found to be poorly situated for providing provide coverage to a significant number of users.

“It really doesn’t connect up with town sites very well, and it really doesn’t cover the major roads,” he said.

Rhinebeck Supervisor Elizabeth Spinzia said the town needs to balance the need for cellular coverage with the visual impact of towers.

“Protecting our viewshed is really important,” she said. “We pride ourselves on our zoning, which schemes to retain the rural character.”