Town officials have received applications to affix radio antennas to existing structures at West and St. Luke’s Schools, part of a wider effort to improve communications for New Canaan’s first responders.
Rendering showing where the proposed public safety radio antenna would be placed at West School.
The proposed 20.8-foot antenna at West School would be located atop of a building toward the rear of the campus, on a roof whose peak is about 28 feet from the ground, according to an application submitted to Planning & Zoning. The proposed 20-foot antenna at St. Luke’s would be affixed atop a brick chimney at a building alongside the football field, according to the school’s application.
No exterior equipment will be attached to the antennas, the applications said.
Both applications (available for review here, in the dropdown), and a third detailing a proposed antenna on private property on Oenoke Ridge Road, are accompanied by a written statement from Joe Zagarenski, senior engineer with the New Canaan Department of Public Works.
Rendering showing where the proposed public safety radio antenna would be placed at St. Luke’s School.
“Public Safety Radio systems used by first responders are vital to their ability to provide life-saving response to 911 calls,” Zagarenski said in the application.
He continued: “These systems are crucial to communications both within an agency and across agencies. New Canaan’s current radio systems are nearing 15 years old and are on the verge of being obsolete. The Town is in a critical state of needing to upgrade the system. In addition, the northwest corner of Town is a ‘radio dead spot’ meaning that portable radios are unable to transmit with sufficient strength to reach an antenna causing all first responders to be left without radio communications when responding to this area of Town and when using portable radios. The antennae we are requesting these special permits are used to send and receive these radio signals. The antennae are in the most suitable locations available. They are sky blue poles seen against the sky.”
Map showing where the proposed public safety radio antenna would be placed at West School.
West School already has two similar antennas—one for the bus company and one for the superintendent—closer to the front of the building, according to the application.
The antenna planned for Oenoke Ridge Road is just three inches in diameter, officials have said—and is to be used strictly for public safety communications (as opposed to, say, the type of “cell tower” that has been proposed for Soundview Lane and has drawn concern from some neighbors).
The Planning & Zoning Commission’s next regular meeting is scheduled for May 29.
Excellent news! It is wonderful to see that there are concrete plans to ensure public safety communications throughout our town.