First Selectman Kevin Moynihan said Tuesday night that the town is preparing to announce a cell tower for the northwestern corner of town.
Moynihan told members of the Board of Finance that he’d met in the morning with Danbury-based wireless infrastructure company Homeland Towers regarding a cell tower off of Ponus Ridge.
“We are going to bring this to the Siting Council as a public safety tower with New Canaan as the carrier, which will carry some financial obligation if a carrier doesn’t sign on early on, by the end of the year,” Moynihan said during the meeting, held via videoconference. “So I will be bringing further details with that, but I expect that we are going to be bringing an agreement to the Board of Selectmen next week to sign, and then we will announce that, along with plans for other cell towers.”
The comments came during a general update from the first selectman.
Moynihan began talking two years ago about installing a 110-foot-high cell tower on a strip of land off of Ponus Ridge above Dan’s Highway that’s located mainly in a town-owned right-of-way. Nearly all of the approximately 15- to 20-foot-wide property is owned by New Canaan, with a small portion owned by Aquarion, Moynihan has said. He said in an Op-Ed published Dec. 31 on NewCanaanite.com, “Very soon we will announce a proposed new public safety and cell tower in the Northwest part of town near the Laurel Reservoir on upper Ponus Ridge.”
The first selectman has made improving cellular coverage in New Canaan one of his administration’s priorities. In September, the state approved a cell tower in the northeastern part of New Canaan, on a residential property on Soundview Lane. That project is expected to serve AT&T and Verizon customers and could be online as early as May.